Whispers of Darkness
by Darthkvzn
Summary: Billions have died, but their sacrifices have brought the known races of the galaxy freedom. Their destiny is theirs to command, and peace, albeit a somber one, reigns unchallenged. The cosmos is full of constants, however, and death is the most prominent of them all. *Set after ME3 and LotV, spoilers* (MULTICROSSOVER WITH HALO)
1. Chapter 1: Thankless

**This story...I like it a lot, but I don't know that others will. Not as much as people seem to like my other stories. I do hope you'll enjoy it, though. As the descriptions says, it takes place both after the End War (on the StarCraft side of things) and the Reaper War (Mass Effect, duh), so a few considerations:**

 **-Assume Paragon Default FemShep with only a few flirtations with Garrus on ME2, and no time for romance either on ME or ME3.**

 **-Assume the Reaper War went about as well as it possibly can (Geth/Quarian peace, Genophage cured, Councilors survive and the crew does as well)**

 **-Assume the ending is non canon. The Catalyst is a shadow of the AI it used to be, which Shepard encounters. She merely opens the Citadel arms, the Crucible docked, and the pulse fired automatically, eliminating every line of Reaper code. The Geth and EDI are affected but still functional, because their own code still functions. The Geth are still fully sentient because the changes only utilized Reaper code as a model. As an added side effect, element zero is rendered temporarily inert, until a potent fluctuating electrical charge is applied. Biotics take a lot longer to fix. Shepard is found barely alive thanks to her enhancements, but the right side of her body is beyond repair.**

 **-On the StarCraft side of things, assume LotV epilogue is non canon. The Return to Aiur missions are modified to include the Zerg and Terrans in a joint attack to drive Amon back into the Void and destroy the Khala. Once defeated, Kerrigan, escorted by Tassadar and Zeratul, both made the first Xel'Naga of this cycle, destroys Amon and drains his power. Tassadar predicts Kerrigan will be Xel'Naga one day, but for now, she must lead the Swarm.**

 **For more information, I suggest looking up The Citadel's Guide to the Galaxy. It's under revision now, as I'm trying to integrate LotV content and plot into it, but it's still filled with useful information, I think.**

 **Without further ado, welcome to Whispers of Darkness! - Darthkvzn**

* * *

 _ **The Citadel**_

 _ **In FTL transit towards the Sol System**_

Jack Harper was many things. An entrepreneur, a ladies' man, and a visionary, to mention a few. Especially the latter; for all the bad press, earned or not, that the organization he led garnered, it had all started with a single dream, and a single purpose: that humanity gained its rightful place as the top species amongst all the others in the galaxy.

The Illusive Man was, at heart, a dreamer.

So, why did he feel he was _slightly_ over his head, hurtling through space on a gigantic space station designed eons ago to function as a trap by which even the mightiest of civilizations would fall, towards an equally treacherous situation, within his beloved homeworld's upper atmosphere?

For some reason, one he could not place for the half-life that remained in his enhanced mind, he was worried. So, like any businessman that actually earned his yachts and fine spirits, he had a back-up plan. It might lose humanity some Reapers when all was said and done, but perhaps, solely in the interest of witnessing what the so-called Allied Fleet might be able to do above Earth, it might be beneficial to distract the synthetics.

"Harbinger, I wish to speak with you." -he said, aimed at no one in particular.

A keeper that had been fixing some of the damage caused by the fight between the Citadel Defense Force and Reaper troopers suddenly turned alight, and a booming voice assaulted his mind, a familiar, rather dramatic statement turning the corner of his mouth ever so slightly upwards.

 _ **ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL**_

 _ **You presume much, Jack Harper, to address us as you would your subordinates. Speak your mind human, before you lose what little of our interest you hold.**_

"Of course, Harbinger, I meant no disrespect. It comes to my attention that your kind seems...unconcerned about the coming battle." -he began, offering his best groveling tone. It seemed to work, as the Reaper's usually monotone 'voice' turned slightly smug.

 _ **The efforts of the organics are futile. Their destruction is imminent, their salvation made certain. All variables have been accounted for,**_ he said, then added, a bit lower, _**even this cycle's...oddities. We need only care that enough organic specimens are left to achieve their species' perfection.**_

A tiny part of his mind smiled in bitter smugness. _Shepard, he means._ "Of course. I have seen your fleet, and I am certain the battle for Earth is for nought. That...is not what I meant, however. It has come to my attention that you've left the species outside of Council space...unattended." -he said, a small puff of smoke accompanying his words.

The possessed keeper seemed to cock its head ever so slightly, in what might be interpreted as curiosity or perhaps confusion.

 _ **The Quarians are few, and their synthetics pitiful. The Krogan are many, but easily burned once their leadership is destroyed. And the Vorcha are hardly worth mentioning. Your logic is flawed, Jack Harper. The cycle continues, unhindered.**_

The Illusive Man almost couldn't hide the smirk that came. For all of the Reapers' veritable superiority, their callous disregard for information had cost them many defeats since Eden Prime. TIM brought his Omni-tool to bear, a model without equal in the galaxy, custom made, and coded to his own genome, so that only he could access it. After all, it contained the entirety of one of the galaxy's largest information networks.

After the discovery of the true extent of Reaper cycles, TIM, while confident he could eventually control the AI's like any machine, would've been foolish not to have _some_ kind of insurance. And so, he'd commissioned ships faster than any other, to scour the galaxy's vastly unexplored sectors, equipped with the latest in stealth technology. The resulting starships had come back with overwhelmingly surprising results.

Cerberus had found no less than 4 other space-faring civilizations. A couple, on the level of the Council, perhaps even more powerful.

It made sense, really. Less than 5% of the galaxy had been fully mapped, due to the nature of the Mass Relays, and the limiting effect of the known races' near exclusive usage of Element Zero and Mass Effect technology.

TIM had a few plans in store for them, but they'd been postponed due to the invasion. That would change, once the Reapers were under human control.

He sent some of the information, enough that the oldest Reaper in existence wouldn't become suspicious of the veracity of the data. A full five minutes passed, an eternity for a hyper-advanced AI.

 _ **This information will be considered, Jack Harper. Consensus will be reached momentarily.**_

When the Citadel arrived at Earth's orbit, the tiny, un-Indoctrinated bit that remained of the Illusive Man, smiled haughtily at the thousands of Reapers that immediately jumped back to FTL, leaving less than half of the original forces or so for the allied attackers to punch through.

Later, in his last few seconds of consciousness, having shot himself thanks to Jane Shepard's efforts to redeem him, a feeling of sadness would wash over him, that the races of the galaxy would never know it was thanks to Jack Harper that they even had a chance to survive.


	2. Chapter 2: Ravaged

**Wow! Just a day and the response has been pretty darn awesome. Here's hoping you continue to enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Primary Hive Cluster on Eris, moon of Char**_

 _ **Char System, Koprulu Sector**_

Zagara 'watched' the billions of Zerg on Char, musing; something she would not have been able to do before her rather brutal... _enhancements_ at the hands of Abathur, and at the behest of the Primal Queen of Blades.

Her Queen had shown a remarkable amount of what the Terrans called 'good will', by entrusting her to protect, improve, and watch over the Zerg fortress world of Char, while Kerrigan explored the past of the Xel'naga, currently on Zerus. If Zagara had more than just a couple of facial muscles, she'd sneer. Zerus was such a soft, _easy_ world. The Swarm was much more suited to the inhospitable environment of Char, where it could thrive, always changing, evolving, _improving_.

The Koprulu sector had been somewhat...tranquil, of late, and Zagara was quickly growing restless. While she grudgingly accepted that the assault on Korhal, and the subsequent destruction of the fallen Xel'naga could not have been achieved without the aid of the Terrans and the Protoss, she still could not quite understand why they didn't assimilate their former allies already; some lingering Terran sentiment in her Queen, most likely.

 _Mind your thoughts, Broodmother. And your perimeter; there are contacts at the edge of your system_ , chided the deceivingly sweet voice of Izsha, the Queen's advisor.

Zagara growled back at the annoying entity mentally. Obviously, the Zerg had a very good reason not to have developed the ability to muse on their own. A mental probe at the Overseers littered around the system gave back the image of a huge fleet composed by some kind of synthetic starships of oddly organic design. They were many, but were all significantly smaller than even the smallest Leviathan at her command. Stimulating the hundreds of hatcheries on Char Aleph, the enormous reinfested platform above Char came to life with a vengeance, every kind of Zerg flier rustling up into a frenzy, hundreds of thousands more awaiting inside developing eggs.

 _Zerg! Heed my call! Defend this system with claw, acid and spines! Tear these intruders apart! For the Queen!_

The chittering, roaring, growling and howling of hundreds of billions of Zerg shook the land and skies above the volcanic world, and the barren moon Zagara was commanding the battle from. The Queens and Broodmothers under her command rang with a single psionic cry: _The constructs will be destroyed!_

Forty Leviathans from the planet's two hundred and fifty formed into something resembling a fleet, staying in high orbit, where the spore cannons dotting the volcanic landscape would still be useful. The smaller intruders were faster, closing the no man's land between them and the Zerg quickly. As soon as they got within range, mechanical plates at their front shifted, revealing a pulsating, red 'eye'. Some Corruptors, also entering combat range, unleashed their parasite spores, hurtling towards the larger craft. The effect was instantaneous, as the projectiles' damage caused the starships' atomic bonds to become slightly looser, and thus more vulnerable to the swarm of Mutalisks that had come from behind the larger flyers. Glaive wurms were shot, bouncing inside their targets, even leaping to nearby ones when possible. Dozens of the constructs fell before shooting even once.

After the initial attack, the red, blue and purple vessels fired back, red lances of superheated material burning through scores of the lighter Zerg flyers and even taking down a Corruptor or two.

Zagara's hyper-advanced brain analyzed the initial engagement's result. 172 dead Mutalisks and 62 downed Corruptors for the price of 38 of the smaller warships. If the Broodmother could've, she would have smiled. The losses were more than acceptable, and easily replenished. In fact, the Larvae on the platform were already beginning the morph process.

As the larger constructs approached, their fleet configuration shifted, the smaller ones slowing down to provide cover to them, and the larger ones opening small launch bays and releasing hordes of small, eye-like interceptors. Zagara commanded her Leviathan fleet to begin production and disgorging of the Scourge within, ordering the small flyers to ignore the smaller ships and head straight for the larger, more valuable ones. Her Mutalisks provided a covering screen, flying alongside the suicidal creatures and taking shots at the numerous interceptors. Vipers joined the fight, spearing the smaller vessels ( _frigates,_ she thought) through and using their insanely powerful muscles to pull parts of them away from the relative safety of their formation.

The enemy retaliated, the already known thermal lances reminiscent of Protoss Colossi from the frigates joined by the much more powerful attacks of the capital ships, shot from the tentacle-like protrusions at their bow, and two even stronger emitters mounted between three of the limbs. Hundreds upon thousands of Zerg fell, but it was clear to Zagara that whoever had deemed this attack worthy, had never faced the wrath of the Swarm. As her Leviathans got in range to commence bio-plasmid bombardment, and the first Scourge and Spore Cannon globs began to hit her enemies, Zagara could only feel satisfaction.


	3. Chapter 3: Relieved

**Don't let this chapter fool you. This fic is very much StarCraft centric. In fact, this one wasn't actually planned. However, I thought it might be a good idea to show you the immediate aftermath of the Reaper War. As in, one day afterwards. We'll get back to Koprulu on the next one. - Darthkvzn**

* * *

 _ **High orbit over Earth**_

 _ **Sol System, Local Cluster**_

Admiral Hackett was not a happy man. Never had been, really. A rough upbringing under a single mother in the streets of Buenos Aires and an even harsher career in the Alliance Navy had seen to that.

But, as he watched a _Sovereign_ -class Reaper float uselessly by his flagship, he thought he could consider himself, at the very least, relieved.

"Doesn't get old yet, does it?" -asked the flanged voice of a Turian behind him.

Primarch Victus walked over, settling at his right, looking out at the aftermath of the Battle for Earth.

"Not yet, no. In time, I'll imagine we'll do anything and everything to get rid of the monsters, but for now, seeing them dead is enough." -said Hackett.

The Primarch chuckled dryly. "Agreed."

A Turian Dreadnought taxied by a Geth Cruiser floated by.

Victus brought up an Omni-tool. "The others have finally settled on a time for the Post-War Summit. Tomorrow at noon, by your local time."

"I'm surprised they managed to settle down enough to talk, let alone decide on something." -noted the Admiral.

Victus cleared his throat. "They didn't. Not as you probably think, at least. Surprisingly, it was thanks to the Overlord. Called us a 'bunch of anxious pyjaks' and flashed his biotics. I don't think even the Geth would have disagreed after that."

Steven shook his head, hiding a smile. "That's the Shepard effect for you."

The Primarch raised a brow plate. "How _is_ the Commander?"

Hackett cast a downward glance at the homeworld of humanity, where Jane Shepard was currently fighting for her life. "Shepard is...in a bad way. Harbinger managed to score one over her before he fell. The beam didn't even touch her, and it still melted her armor and ruined the right side of her body. How she managed to go up to the Citadel, kill the Illusive Man, and open the station's arms with a ruined arm and leg, surviving for a _day_ before receiving medical attention, I have no clue."

Victus shook his head, laughing without humor. "I am not a religious person, but it is increasingly hard not to believe the Spirits are watching over her more than anyone else."

"I doubt she'd see it that way." -Hackett said politely.

The Turian hummed. "She wouldn't. I have known her only for a short time, but if I've learned anything about her, is that she's not fond of the concept of fate."

Steven shook his head. "Can you blame her? With all she's been through...more than anyone else, I wouldn't be surprised if, this time, she doesn't _want_ to get back up."

"No, I can't. But she will rise again. If not for her, then for the survivors. She'll be crucial in leading us unto the peace we deserve." -said Victus, confidently.

Hackett said nothing. If it were up to him, he'd suggest she and her crew go rogue. Look the other way when the _Normandy_ made a run for it. But the Primarch was right. The races of the galaxy were more united than ever, but their relationships were still less than ideal. Shepard would need to be and embody that necessary force of change. He just hoped she wouldn't feel as used as he personally thought she would.

Victus, who'd gone back to checking the myriad reports on his Omni-tool, frowned. "That's...odd."

Hackett raised an eyebrow. "What is, Primarch?"

Though his plates were impassive, the flanged patterns on his voice quivered slightly. "The resistance leaders are saying thousands of Reapers went...missing, before our fleets arrived."


	4. Chapter 4: Annoyed

_**High orbit over D-3974 (Dead Man's Rock)**_

 _ **Detritus System, Koprulu Sector**_

Miranda Han-Horner was not amused.

First, there was the matter of Matthew being so tantalizingly close, yet still too busy to be a proper husband to her. Then, there was the fact that just last week, the motherflippin' Queen of Blades herself had come for a visit, claiming a dire need to speak to Commander Raynor. Mira was not a woman easily scared, but an 11 kilometer long Leviathan knocking on her front door had been...rather unnerving.

And finally, to make things even better, early warning outposts had gone dark at the edges of the system, the only thing they transmitted before going offline, a bunch of screams and a single, blurry image of a squid-looking _thing_ , firing a red sort of heat based weapon.

This had had both Raynor's Raiders and her own mercs scratching their heads. Until the 500 or so giant space squids showed up, half an hour away from the planet.

If she wasn't so sure the Zerg had literally no need for starships, she'd have thought they'd decided to design one. They were dark purple, with bright blue lights in a different pattern for each, which in turn ranged from small, 500 feet tall ones that looked more insectoid, to the huge, 2 kilometer ones that looked straight out of a high tech sushi bar for giants.

Walking into the chaotic bridge of the _Hyperion_ , she smiled at the familiar level-headed expression worn by her husband.

"Looks like we have a few unwanted visitors." -she said casually.

Matt regarded her briefly. "Mira Han, clear the bridge. We're in a combat situation." -then he turned to his officers. "Ready defensive matrix and missile pods! Give me firing solutions on the hostile vessels and share them with the fleet. Scramble Viking and Wraith wings."

The bridge officers rushed to their assigned jobs. Mira was ever so slightly impressed. And maybe a little aroused. "I believe I can see why the young Emperor wishes for you to lead his fleets." -she said, joining her husband at the holographic display he was carefully analyzing.

Matt gave her an exasperated sigh. "Do you not have a mercenary fleet to tend to?"

"I'm their employer, Matthew, not their mother. They know how to defend themselves." -she said cheerfully.

Just as she said it, the _Jackson's Revenge_ , flagship of Mira's fleet, daringly warped into combat range, along with a dozen _Minotaur_ -class Battlecruisers and two powerful _Gorgons_. The hostile alien ships seemed...well, surprised at the maneuver, hastily revealing their weapons and shooting what looked a little like a red energy beam. The targeted Battlecruisers activated their defensive matrices, shrugging off the hits. And then, they retaliated.

A hail of laser bolts and missiles filled their area of space, punctuated by the two Yamato blasts fired by the _Gorgon_ -class Battlecruisers. The enemy warships blocked the missiles easily, revealing a dull blue film, but the directed energy weapons completely bypassed their shields to devastating effect. The continuously firing laser batteries slowly chipped away at their hulls, and the plasma bolts simply obliterated two of the capital ships.

The Raiders' Adjutant piped up. " _Combat analysis suggests the enemy warships' shields are only designed to block kinetic impacts. Though these shields are powerful, they are useless against energy based weaponry._ "

"So I see. Adjutant, relay this information to the fleet. Helmsman, take us in. Focus fire on the closest capital ship analogue as soon as we're in range." -he ordered.

Commander Raynor chose that moment to step into the bridge. "Makin' friends, Matt?" -he asked mirthfully, nodding at Mira.

"The kind you don't choose to, sir. Unknown warships just appeared at the system's edge, tore apart the early warning systems and some of Mira's patrols. Our fleet's doing well so far, now that we've figured out their weaknesses." -Matt informed Raynor.

The Commander leaned on the wolf-lined holographic display. "They figure out ours?"

The enemy fleet was retaliating, bright red beams tearing into the thick hull of several of the mercenaries' _Minotaur_ -class Battlecruisers.

Matt scowled, while Raynor narrowed his eyes. "They look like a Protoss Void Ray's beam weapon."

The Adjutant shook her head about as much as her shackled design allowed. " _Prismatic beams are photon-based directed energy weapons. These unknown warships employ superheated metal magnetically propelled at near-relativistic speeds._ "

Raynor rubbed his beard. "So, they shoot hot metal, real fast."

An ensign in charge of Communications shouted from his position. " _Pirate's Booty_ reports damage in decks 4 and 5! _Crucible_ and _Mnemosyne's Lock_ have lost their Defensive Matrices."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "A fight this size with the Protoss would not be going nearly this well...or the Zerg, for that matter."

"Further proof we're dealing with something else. Give 'em hell Matt." -said Raynor.

The younger man nodded. "Viking kill squads target the smaller vessels, Wraiths provide a fighter screen. I want Yamato shots on those capital ships ASAP! Intensify fleetwide laser barrage, I don't want any enemy left unscathed."


	5. Chapter 5: Thrashed

**I think you're gonna hate me for this one. It's time for us to see how the Protoss fare against the might of the Reaper armada...**

* * *

 _ **High orbit over Endion**_

 _ **Mod'ell System, Koprulu Sector**_

Though the _Spear of Adun_ was an enormous, nigh-indestructible vessel of war, unparalleled even by _Cybros_ in its destructive capability, it had still been originally intended for the survival and reconstruction of Protoss civilization. Over the last year or so after Amon's destruction, it had been doing exactly that, aiding the Daelaam in the recolonization of dozens of their previously held worlds. Still, Hierarch Artanis held no delusions of grandeur. Victors or not, and even with the millions of Templar stored in the mighty arkship, and the added numbers of the Nerazim, Tal'darim and Purifiers, the Firstborn were barely recovering their losses from the _Second_ Great War, let alone the First.

That's why the Hierarch took every necessary precaution and more in his recolonization efforts, bringing a third of the Golden Armada wherever he went. It was also why these mechanical invaders had been utterly crushed over the cracked crust and ash filled atmosphere of Endion.

High Executor Selendis and Prime Phase-smith Karax walked over to his station, where be was brooding at the post battle report in the bridge's holographic tactical view.

"En Taro Zeratul, Hierarch. The fleet awaits further orders." -the female greeted, as always, straight to the point.

Artanis regarded her. "Sweep the system for stragglers, and deploy Observers to nearby systems. We must not allow these abominations to spread further." -he said resolutely.

Selendis bowed, walking off. Then he turned to Karax. "You have analyzed the remains, Karax?"

The chief Phase-smith nodded, wringing his hands. "I have, Hierarch. The composition of their hulls...I can scarcely believe it. It would seem the artificial constructs we destroyed are made from _organic_ compounds. The basic blocks of life, turned to armor and weaponry."

Artanis narrowed his eyes. "How is this possible?"

Karax seemed at a loss. "It is difficult to tell. The material is extremely dense and durable, though weak to heat and energy attacks, which is likely why we defeated them so handily - that, and their kinetic shields. It is possible, however unlikely, that whoever manufactured these constructs synthesized the material from living creatures."

The Hierarch was appalled. "Are you certain? There is no other possibility?"

Karax shook his head. "There are many, each more outrageous than the last, but logic tells me they are untrue. It could explain the low-level psionic field the machines emitted, too."

Artanis' eyes blazed with fury. "How many, Karax? We destroyed hundreds of these constructs. How many lives were taken to build even one of them?"

"Based on the wildly differing ages of each of the warships, and their sheer size and density...I would say entire civilizations, Hierarch. Millions, if not billions of individuals for each." -he said quietly.

The young leader of the Firstborn looked mournfully at the Nerazim warp blade emitter that covered his right forearm, the one that had once belonged to Zeratul. The sheer pain of having experienced his race's near demise made him hurt for the ghosts his fleet had just slain.

"Hierarch! We are being contacted by Matriarch Vorazun!" -a Zealot shouted from his station.

Artanis nodded his thanks, and walked over to the communication screen. Vorazun's serious visage regarded him. "En Taro Zeratul, Artanis. I _had_ dire news, but it would appear you are already more than aware of their nature."

"If you refer to the heinous attack by the constructs upon us, then yes."

Vorazun gave him a raised eyebrow. "Your anger is amusing, Hierarch. If our own fight was any indication, the _Spear of Adun_ and the Golden Armada at your command should've had little problem defeating the invaders."

Artanis narrowed his eyes. " _Your_ fight? Was Aiur attacked as well?"

"We _all_ were. _Cybros,_ Aiur, Slayn...even Terran and Zerg worlds were struck by these entities. Their attacks were as futile there as the ones we suffered. I'm told Alarak had a grand time annihilating the intruders." -she said sarcastically.

The Hierarch's mind was working overtime. This wasn't a bizarre, isolated incident. Someone plotted against the Koprulu sector. Their attack failed miserably, but Artanis had a sinking feeling that this had just been a scouting party.

Vorazun was troubled. "Hierarch? Artanis, is something wrong?" -the Nerazim Matriarch asked worriedly.

Artanis stood straighter. "The shadows of the cosmos move against us once more. Summon the Council of Dawn, and the Daelaam's allies. I fear these attacks are merely the beginning of a far greater conflict."

* * *

 **I wanted to convey just how out of their league the Citadel Races and indeed the Reapers would be against the Golden Armada. Thus why I didn't write an actual battle. If it interests you, in my head, the Protoss only lost a few Interceptors from the Carriers. THAT'S how good they are.**


	6. Chapter 6: Informed

_**Protoss Arkship "**_ **Spear of Adun"** _ **, in orbit over Ulnar**_

 _ **Alterian Rift, Koprulu Sector**_

It was still a wonder for Sarah Kerrigan to arrive to a fleet of warships and not be fired upon. Especially since she was boarding the flagship of the Golden Armada, and indeed, the entire Protoss race.

Dominion Battlecruisers, Mercenary fighter squads, Tal'darim Destroyers, Templar Carriers and her own Leviathan coexisting in an area of space without a single hostile shot was simply a miracle in her mind. Sure, most of the vessels were pointing their myriad weapons at her enormous creature, and there were no more Zerg floating about (outside the Leviathan, at any rate), but the absence of outright conflict was still weird.

Then again, she was a veritable goddess and probably the most powerful being in the galaxy, so maybe they were right not to start trouble.

The Primal Queen of Blades walked the wide hallways of the _Spear of Adun_ unescorted, but she could still feel the concern of the guarding Zealots at every checkpoint. It was getting a bit tiring, but fortunately, she had arrived at the location she sought.

While most of the original Twilight Council had perished in the beginning stages of the End War, Artanis had seen fit to keep the naming theme in their honor, and to represent the change in Protoss society, as well as the Golden Age they were entering. Urun, Tabrenus, Mohandar...they had all fallen. Kerrigan thought it fitting. The renewal process of Protoss society had to take place with as few of the elements anchoring them to the past as possible. The process she'd undergone to become the Primal Queen had been similar, and so was the Dominion's reforging under Valerian Mengsk. It was something they all had in common, aside from having fought side by side against the Dark God, Amon.

Kerrigan walked into the Council Room, where everyone was expecting her. Few hid their feelings from her all-powerful mind. Distrust, fear, wariness...those she expected, but the warm feelings of camaraderie and appreciation (if grudging, in some cases) she got from the Terran side of the table were always gratifyingly surprising.

"Greetings, Kerrigan. We are pleased to see you make this meeting." -said Valerian, always the serene one.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Not all of you, I'd bet. But I'm here, so let's not waste time."

Jim smirked at her, beckoning for her to stand at his side. Kerrigan obliged, her stature slightly shorter than the former marshall's, but her bony wings dwarfing even the massive form of Artanis, seated across from her. The Hierarch of the Daelaam was surrounded by his Executors, leaders in their own right and representatives of their factions, but still deferential to Artanis' commands. High Executor Selendis, of the Templar, crossed her arms and narrowed her arms at her. The Nerazim Matriarch Vorazun regarded her neutrally. Talandar, leader of the Purifiers, kept his ocular sensors on her form without fail. Karax, the Hierarchy's Prime Phase-smith, absently tinkered with the holographic display. The Tal'darim Highlord, Alarak, looked at everyone with the same expression of contempt. And finally, Grand Preserver Rohana kept her worried gaze focused on the stars above them.

On the Terran side, Emperor Valerian Mengsk sat comfortably, surveying the scene for potential conflict. The young ruler had proven himself a great diplomat, and a caring leader, even if Kerrigan thought he was a bit idealistic. Nova Terra, Valerian's personal bodyguard, held a digital pad and took constant notes of everyone around her. General Warfield held her burning gaze and gave a curt nod, the animosity towards her clearly still there. Two representatives from the Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate looked around the room, equal parts awed and terrified; Kerrigan smirked, as she knew of Valerian's plans to annex the Combine and Protectorate into the Dominion within the next ten years. And finally, Jim and Matt sat at her side, arguably the most comfortable out of the diplomats and military leaders gathered.

After the End War, there had been much to decide. Without Amon's threat hanging over their heads, disputes could be settled, and old hatchets either buried, or brought to bear. The thing is, aside from some of the more zealous Protoss and bloodthirsty Broodmothers, no one really wanted to fight anymore. The conflict had left billions dead on all sides, and many of the old advocates for conflict had gone, too. And, while some crimes could never be forgotten, the fire of battle had forged an alliance that had transcended the past and brought about the prospect of a peaceful future for the first time in the history of the Koprulu Sector.

Valerian's Dominion was now strongly tied to the Kel-Morian Combine, and even more so to the Umojan Protectorate, since they'd bolstered his forces after the Swarm's march on Korhal. The Raiders vouched for Valerian and his new order, since the new Emperor actually cared for his subjects. The Protoss were ironically both more diverse and more united than ever before, with the Nerazim, Templar, Tal'darim and Purifiers following Artanis and forming the Daelaam - the ideal of Protoss unity sparked so long ago by Adun, and restarted by Tassadar and Zeratul in recent times. And the Swarm? Well, while Kerrigan had no intention of conquering her recent brothers in arms, if it weren't for the diplomatic glue that was James Raynor, she would not even think of opening any kind of relationship with the other major powers in the Sector.

"The Queen of Blades is correct. As you all know, we have gathered once more to decide on a course of action for our peoples." -said Artanis.

Karax projected an image from the khaydarin crystal powered projector. It depicted the three-dimensional form of one of the larger constructs that had attacked every one of the major powers represented in the room.

The Queen leaned forward. "Have you found where they've come from?"

Valerian shook his head. "We have not. However, preliminary spectral analysis tells us they are not from the Koprulu Sector. They are simply formed from compounds that do not, and indeed _should_ not exist here."

"They're also very weak to energy attacks, but physical impacts do almost no damage." -said Raynor.

Kerrigan snorted. "Unless they come from the Zerg. The Swarm lost hundreds of thousands of flyers, but those were easily replenished. Their two thousand odd fleet, I imagine not."

Gasps both mental and audible could be heard. Alarak scoffed disbelievingly. "Surely you toy with us, _creature_. Your beasts could not _possibly_ have slayed that many without energy weapons."

The Queen of Blades narrowed her eyes. She sent forth a beam of psionic energy to the khaydarin crystal used to project the image, startling everyone but Jim and Artanis.

The image forcibly shifted, and the room saw the battle at Char in the eyes of a series of Overlords. Hundreds of Scourges ganged up on the largest ships, targeting their apparent weak points and detonating, the kinetic damage negligible, but the corrosive compounds left behind causing major damage to the constructs. Squads of Mutalisks and Corruptors circled the enemy, taking shots where appropriate. Enormous Vipers and Brood Lords performed one-two punch combos, with the Vipers spearing the metallic carapace, and the Broodlings being shot into the holes, wreaking havoc inside. And those constructs that managed to reach the mighty Leviathans were crushed by enormous, piercing tentacles, bio-plasmid blasts, and the extremely corrosive globules shot by the Spore Cannons dotting Char's landscape.

Valerian winced mentally, uncomfortably reminded of the Dominion invasion at Char. Kerrigan stopped projecting the image, which went back to displaying the constructs. "The machines kept charging suicidally after that. By the time I arrived at Char, the battle was over."

Artanis nodded. "Did any make it to the surface?"

Kerrigan scoffed. "A dozen, perhaps. Their weapons were powerful, and their carapace durable, but they and their troops ultimately fell before the might of the Swarm."

Selendis raised an eyebrow. "Of what troops do you speak of, Kerrigan?"

The Emperor of the Dominion answered for her. "We actually encountered these, as well. They come perhaps as the most disturbing development yet. May we?" -he asked Karax, who bowed deferentially.

Valerian Mengsk turned to the blonde woman at his side, the Ghost known as Nova Terra. The Emperor closed his eyes, opening his mind to the psionic. Nova grabbed the khaydarin crystal, unable to project her psionic energy the way Kerrigan could do with hers. Images of monsters began to form, of cadaver-like beings with glowing blue lights all across their bodies, sharp claws and decaying flesh. Some were dead still, while others thrashed about. They were mostly humanoid, of varying sizes, from vaguely human sized, to the height of a Protoss. There were a couple of exceptions: an insectoid _thing_ with cannons grafted to its body structure, and a brutish monster that seemed to fall apart just for existing.

Matriarch Vorazun shook her head. "What _are_ these abominations?"

Artanis looked at Rohana, who was looking fearfully at the display. "Rohana mentioned during warp travel that she may have some information on this threat."

Nova looked skeptical. "How so?"

The Hierarch turned to the Ghost sternly. "Rohana is the Daelaam's Grand Preserver, November Terra. While the Khala is no more, she and her followers work tirelessly still to ensure that the history of the Firstborn, and the lessons we have learned, are never lost to time."

If Nova was slightly intimidated by Artanis, she didn't show it.

Rohana wringed her hands. Then she rose. "You must understand. The Daelaam is vastly different to the Caste system of old. Indeed, the very idea of communing with those who would once be viewed as lesser races would be unthinkable in the ages past. This was our sacred rule, the Dae'Uhl. To observe, and never interfere, as the Xel'Naga did to our ancestors."

Kerrigan crossed her arms. "Not all of them."

The Preserver nodded slowly. "Indeed. The Protoss Empire once spanned the entirety of the Sector, and yearned to expand further. Vast expeditionary forces were created to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy, in a time where the Firstborn experienced almost unprecedented unity. It was in one of these forays that the Empire encountered the enemy we now discuss: Reapers."

Rohana no longer had ready access to the memories, but she had her own memories of _living_ those moments of the past. They were not nearly as clear, but could still provide wisdom, which is why she elected to remain as Grand Preserver.

At the revelation of the name of their enemies, most at the table leaned forward. Rohana continued with greater courage. "As we had conquered the stars around us, so had another race done with their sector of space. They called themselves Protheans, and ruled over a vast expanse of the galaxy with an iron fist, annexing any species that they encountered, whether they willed it or not, and calling _them_ Protheans too."

The Queen of Blades looked down. "Not unlike the Swarm of old." -she noted quietly.

Rohana nodded. "Their empire was advanced, yes, but not nearly enough, and almost entirely dependant on an element unique to their worlds. I know not its name, but it had the unique capacity of altering the mass around it when electrically charged."

Matt Horner narrowed his eyes. "Our Adjutant discovered gravitational anomalies in the...Reapers...we faced. Are you saying the Protheans created them?"

The Preserver shook her head. "No, terran. In fact, it could be said that the reverse holds a measure of truth. The Reapers, as we eventually deduced, created the mass-altering element, seeding it around the galaxy so that the races who would find it used its miraculous capabilities to advance their societies quickly."

Alarak finally spoke. "This grows tiresome. For what purpose, Preserver? It sounds as if these Reapers wished to better arm the Protheans."

"It is as it sounds, Tal'darim. Paradoxical, perhaps, if one has not truly seen the Reapers in action. The Protheans, and thousands of civilizations before them, grew along an almost identical path, one that the Reapers knew, and one that predicted their inevitable victory. They have created a cycle of extinction and ascension that started long before the first Protoss rose on Aiur." -Rohana said.

The mood in the room sobered up immediately. "Gettin' _real_ tired of cosmic cycles, here." -said Raynor. Kerrigan shot him a sad smirk.

Artanis piped up. "And how do these Reapers bring about the harvest?" -he said distastefully.

Valerian narrowed his eyes. "With all due respect, Hierarch...what do you mean by harvest?"

The Daelaam's leader turned to Karax, disgusted. "Tell them, Karax. Reveal their sickening purpose, for I can scarcely tolerate the mere thought."

The Phase-smith seemed to pale. "I believe the Reapers turn entire civilizations into their own image. Warships formed from millions, if not billions of sentient beings."

"Warships which, in turn, help subjugate further civilizations, creating more Reapers." -said Vorazun, catching on.

The reality of the situation started to catch on. "The ascension you mentioned." -said Valerian quietly.

General Warfield leaned forward. "This is the part I don't get. We suffered some losses, sure, but the bastards burned like any other."

"This was a mere scouting party, Horace Warfield. The Reapers' numbers are unknown, but there were enough to give even the might of the ancient fleets pause - the same ones built with the technology of the _Spear of Adun_." -said Rohana.

Kerrigan rose. "You hide something, Preserver. Your knowledge of these events is too complete, even with your ancestors' might."

Selendis also rose. "You would dare accuse?"

The Queen flashed dangerous purple eyes. "I don't need to _dare_ anything, Templar. She is holding information back, I can sense it."

Artanis made his mind known loudly, before things could escalate further. "This bickering is pointless! While I would appreciate more respect on your part, Kerrigan, I share your concerns." -he turned to Rohana. "What is it you will not reveal?"

The Preserver looked away. "You must forgive me - it is highly difficult for me to betray the secrets of the Conclave, even now. The Dae'Uhl called for stewardship of the lesser races, protection from the horrors of the cosmos. But...the Empire grew complacent. Arrogant. Civilizations were born and died within few solar returns - an inevitable fact of life. I am ashamed to say I once shared these beliefs. The Prothean Empire fell slowly, but surely. And though there were a few heroic voices in support of aiding the dying species, the Judicator Caste officially decided not to interfere, merely observing their demise."

She closed her eyes in grief. "However, unbeknownst to all but a few, the Conclave had Prothean survivors captured for interrogation. They were taken quickly, without any evidence of our existence left behind. The Templar brutally extracted whatever information they could from the captives, and then the captives were granted the mercy of execution. It is why Protoss never use kinetic weapons: all that time ago, it was deemed that the only way Reapers could be a threat to the Firstborn, is if we made the mistakes the Protheans and those before them had made in basing their technology in mass altering phenomena."

Artanis shook his head in a most Terran-like manner. "The Conclave could be truly monstrous. And so could the Templar."

"Without their deeds, we would not know of our enemy now. Distasteful as you may find their methods, and cowardly though their attitude might have been, at least now _we_ know what we face. I propose we act upon this knowledge." -Alarak suggested.

Kerrigan scowled. "Hold your peace, Highlord. While the Swarm can be readied for war within days, your own civilization and its allies are still rebuilding."

"The Dominion is still recovering from its heavy losses. I'd estimate our military capacity to be at around a quarter of pre-war levels." -said Valerian.

"Loathe as I am to admit it, the Templar cannot afford to wage war at this moment, either." -Selendis said mournfully.

Alarak sneered. "And here I thought your valor admirable...It would seem the burden falls to me. The Tal'darim grow restless. We will destroy these _Reapers_."

"The Purifiers will assist you, Tal'darim. We fear not death, and yearn to prove ourselves before our organic brethren." -said Talandar, extending his blades.

The Highlord rolled his glowing red eyes, but did not argue. The Combine's representative cleared his throat. "We may be able to provide some assistance. The Combine's 4th and 5th Fleets remain mostly intact." -he said, and the Umojan beside him piped up as well. "Our nuclear stockpile and Shadow Corps will also be made available for this effort."

Raynor raised an eyebrow. "Well, my boys and I are always willin' to pitch in. Count the Raiders in."

Valerian smirked. "Excellent. I believe we have ourselves a decent task force."

"Not yet, you don't." -said Kerrigan, rising.

Artanis eyed her curiously. "You wish to support our efforts, Kerrigan?"

Sarah shrugged. "The way I see it, I don't have a choice. The Zerg remain a nightmare in the eyes of both Terrans and Protoss. While my minions don't care at all for good will, I believe we would benefit from it. I will rouse the Swarm, and ready it for battle. Just make sure to stay out of my way." -she said, then stalked out of the room, leaving more than a few concerned expressions behind.

The Queen of Blades didn't care. She was already relishing the bloodshed.


	7. Chapter 7: Prepared

**Bonus points if you spot the reference to another sci-fi series, which *might* come into place later on. Sorry for the wait! School demands my attention.**

* * *

 _ **Tal'darim Mothership**_ " **Blood of the Forged"**

 _ **Dominion staging point Gamma 3, classified location, Koprulu Sector**_

The Tal'darim Death Fleet was glorious, an immense cloud of black and red warships built with the sole purpose of destruction, dwarfing the size of the rest of the allied fleet combined.

All of them, waiting for Alarak's commands. It was hard not to get drunk on power, lose his laser-like focus. Amon might've been destroyed, but the Void still held an echo of his desires. All Tal'darim could feel it, every time they drew sustenance from terrazine, the Breath of Creation. _Kill them all_ , it said.

Yes, the Betrayer was gone. Yet a god could never truly die.

Alarak and his people were strong, though. Powerful enough to subjugate most of their allies, a fact they were keenly aware of. He did nothing to allay those concerns, even if he did not intend to realize their fears. For now, at least. Who knew? Perhaps this alliance would outlive its usefulness one day soon. For now, the Forged were content; they had a clear, larger than life foe, one that would push them to their limits.

Many would die, of course. But those that did not would earn their right to call themselves Tal'darim. The Highlord looked forward to the new challenges the new Ascendants to come would surely bring.

Alarak paced around the large holotank, reminiscent of the one on the _Spear of Adun_ 's bridge. Malash had been a nostalgic, and had had his Laborers base most of the Tal'darim designs on existing Protoss technology. Alarak found the similarities distasteful, but a major redesign had been out of the question before this campaign. He would just have to take comfort in the knowledge that this mighty warship, and indeed, the entirety of the Tal'darim, had been taken by murdering his predecessor.

"Highlord, there are multiple contacts warping in. Massive in size and scope!" -the bridge officer in charge of sensors said.

Alarak hummed. "The beasts have finally caught up."

Indeed, the Swarm had arrived. With a flash of bright orange vapors, instead of the clean elongation and blue vectors characterizing Terran and Protoss warp-ins, one-hundred and thirty six Leviathans arrived at the edge of the staging point, immediately disgorging thousands of Zerg flyers of all types.

As opposed to the mass produced vehicles and constructs employed by both Protoss and Terran, all Zerg organisms differed from each other. No two Zerg looked exactly the same, with extra teeth on one, less spines on another. Even Zergling pairs born from the same coccoon had some differences.

Leviathans were not the exception. In fact, their generally enormous size made the dimorphism much more apparent. The smallest Leviathan was about the size of a _Minotaur-_ class Terran Battlecruiser, and, as Alarak understood it, was used for...covert missions, whatever the Zerg equivalent of those might be. The largest, and last to warp in, was Kerrigan's own, measuring in at a very respectable 17.6 kilometers, dwarfing his own Mothership but still small compared to the _Spear of Adun_. Even without its size, it was easily recognizable by how many scars it had and all the extra chitinous armor it had grown.

It also had something on its massive underbelly tentacles that impressed even Alarak: a gutted, broken Reaper, and one of the larger ones, at that.

"Incoming transmission from the lead Zerg...vessel." -the lower Ascendant from before said. The Highlord did not know what his name was, and didn't care. Wouldn't, until his fighting prowess in Rak'shir merited attention, which would likely not happen in a _very_ long time.

Alarak walked to the holographic screen. The Queen of Blades filled it soon enough.

"Kerrigan."

" _Highlord._ "

Aside from the 'bloodlust' he'd mentioned to the Council, the Zerg were one of the main reasons Alarak had pitched in the Tal'darim against the Reapers. The rest of the leaders were at least a known quantity: Artanis was an impressive warrior and a master tactician, but he was also an idealistic fool. Talandar was powerful...for a machine. Selendis was a young novice before his mastery, and Vorazun had proven decidedly unchallenging, if admittedly rich with potential under adequate guidance. The Terrans Mengsk and Raynor were resourceful survivors, but ultimately beneath any Tal'darim warrior worth mention. Kerrigan was a factor he had unfortunately not seen anything of during the End War, or at least not nearly enough to properly assess the threat she might pose to him and his designs. He knew she was powerful, enough to actually defeat the Dark God long enough to be forever dispelled by the newly risen Xel'Naga. Aside from that, he had heard only frightening accounts from the few survivors unlucky enough to have been in the path between her and Amon.

Alarak looked forward to seeing her in action.

"I see you bear gifts." -he noted.

Kerrigan hummed. " _Leftovers from the battle at Char. Disabled by a Spore Cannon and crash landed on a nascent Hatchery. Its 'brain' is intact, trapped within a body that will never move again_."

"I assume you bring it for a better reason than bragging rights?"

The Zerg Queen smirked smugly. " _I have spoken with it. Learned its methods and tactics. More importantly, I have discovered what the Reapers are doing here, where they came from, and their numbers._ "

Alarak sneered. "And I suppose it revealed this information of its own free will."

" _Not quite. Reapers share an interesting technology with our synthetic allies; instead of standard communications, they prefer to use a simulated psionic network. Apparently, nobody warned them of the effects of a simple Feedback on such a link._ " -she said, innocently.

Feedback being the act of hard-locking a target's psionic energies within itself on a sort of endless loop, often heavily damaging the subject's brain, must've been hell on an Artificial Intelligence. Alarak relished the sadism the Queen exhibited.

"Consider me impressed. I admire your cruelty, but we are still lacking a target. Care to provide us with the location of their fleets?" -he said, psi blades itching to burst out.

Kerrigan turned to face a creature behind her, with oddly humanoid features. " _Izsha, send them the coordinates_." -she ordered, then turned to the screen again. " _The main Reaper fleet is hiding on something they call a 'Precursor Destroyer'. I don't know what it is, but it's on Protoss space, 12 parsecs away from your adopted homeworld. I've already warned Artanis to reinforce his borders, just in case. We may hold a significant technological advantage, but the numbers...even_ I'm _impressed._ "

Alarak narrowed his eyes as the tactical display filled with the information sent by the Zerg creature. Then he opened them widely in shock.

"You are sure of this information?" -he said quietly,

Kerrigan shrugged. " _Reapers apparently don't remember how to lie after their conversion. Must be all that apocalyptic arrogance._ "

The Highlord ignored the former Terran's attempt at humor. "Whatever they call it, the Reapers have based themselves on very dangerous ground. The Terrans should know it well: they've fought on it before."

The red hologram of a broken ship stared back at him, looking deceivingly small. Nyon had been an addicted fool, but losing control of this gift from the gods to the humans had been his utmost failure.

If Xel'Naga ruins were rare, their Worldship had been utterly unique.

"These constructs know not what they defile. It will be their undoing." -Alarak said.

Kerrigan crossed her arms. " _What do you have in mind, Tal'darim?_ "

Though the Protoss' face was mostly concealed, even an unexperienced observer could see it was gleaming with barely contained glee. "Tell me, Kerrigan. Have you ever heard of Rip Fields?"

* * *

 **Edit: exchanged phase-smiths for Laborers, a headcanon caste in Tal'darim society in charge of improving and designing new tech meant to kill better, basically. Also, killed a few spelling bugs. Please let me know if you find any more! I'm confined to writing on an iPhone for the moment, so it's really hard to spot them until it's unfortunately too late. See you later!**


	8. Chapter 8: Surprised

**Sorry about the wait people, but Frangit Et Finit is using up ALL of my time. It's a huge project that involves a TON of world-building, which I kinda obsess over sometimes. Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

 _ **Xel'Naga Worldship's Orbit**_

 _ **Sigma Quadrant, Reaper Space (unofficial name), Koprulu Sector**_

The Battle at Sigma started, as most Zerg related conflicts do, with a single Drone.

The quadrant was devoid of any and all Swarm presence, yet it was still infested. Tens of thousands of Reapers prowled around the system, each of the big, dreadnought analogues surrounded by at least four of the comparatively tiny destroyer types, easily destroyed but packing quite a punch for their size. Thousands more crawled over the massive ship like maggots on a corpse, blasting away at the abandoned Tal'darim bases littered over the ancient vessel.

Dominion tech analysts were already working on reverse-engineering the Reapers' main weapons, having seen the impressive effect it had on starship armor plating. Sure, Protoss plasma shields and the Terran particle defensive matrices stopped the stream of superheated metal cold, but if it managed to break past, the results were ugly. The crystallized lattices of Protoss armor were extremely effective at dispersing thermal energy and resisted relatively low speed kinetic impacts well, but the punch of a Reaper shot was more than capable of breaking through after a couple of direct hits. It was worse with Terran vessels, because the leftover metal and intense heat from the blast disrupted the self-repair process of Neosteel, so Battlecruisers had to tread a lot more carefully than usual.

The Xel'Naga Worldship was large. Almost mind-numbingly so, in fact. A little over twice the size of the _Spear of Adun_ , but with roughly the same mass and density as a moon or small rocky planet, it was almost unbelievable that the Worldship had once been, well, a _ship_. The Tal'darim had explored its insides for centuries, and had come to the conclusion that the sheer size of the warship -and it definitely was a combat vessel, given its massive, disappointingly unusable weapon emplacements- was simply scaled to fit a very large species.

The earliest recordings of the Protoss deities gave them a similar form to the Firstborn's own, but with Narud's shape-shifting and the new Xel'Naga choosing to keep their Protoss forms, Kerrigan could easily imagine the Worldship containing hundreds, if not thousands of enormous crewmen. Ever since the start of the End War, Kerrigan had secretly obsessed and pored over the origins and culture of the Xel'Naga. There was very little left of them, whatever cataclysm that might've wiped them out being very thorough. Sure, Amon had destroyed a fair few of his brethren, but Kerrigan's investigation pointed to other events that had significantly weakened them beforehand.

In any case, the Worldship's sheer size allowed the Swarm a small opening. Reapers, being AI, were, if oddly organically arrogant, very methodical and strict in their behavior, and though their numbers seemed high enough to patrol the entire quadrant, the seventy-two Observers stationed around that volume of space in preparation for the battle had revealed some small holes through which Kerrigan's smallest Leviathan could slip through.

Broodmother Niadra had been the prototype for a new, more intelligent class of Broodmother. She had been designed with infiltration and sabotage in mind, and had horrifically succeeded against the Protoss, two years ago, only to be abandoned by the Primal Queen after her victory. Kerrigan was not done with her, though, and came for her, shortly before the final stages of the End War. Kerrigan had found Niadra half mad and plotting the destruction of the entire Protoss race, which she might've found amusing if she hadn't been in an alliance with them. As it was, Kerrigan could not allow it, and so she altered and fixed Niadra's brain to fully realize her original functions of infiltration.

The Queen of Blades ordered Abathur to modify a few strains for stealth purposes, while she went about adapting the wrecked Protoss colony ship to suit Niadra's Brood's new purposes. She formed a new Leviathan with it, replacing the chitinous armor typically grown by the Zerg with a previously unused active camouflage genetic strain, taken from an aquatic cephalopod hunter on a Terran world, so the Leviathan's skin would mimic its surroundings. The thick hide was also adept at absorbing most kinds of sensor pings, a side effect of using the crystallized Protoss hull of the colony ship in its growth. It had been used to great effect in eradicating Mobius' Shadow Corps in the War, and it would prove just as useful now.

The 'stealth' Leviathan arrived in system and quickly took on the inky black coloration of space. A few nearby Reapers detected _something_ , most likely the warp-in, but upon checking out the disturbance, found nothing but empty space. The Leviathan was long gone, dropping a single pod containing a Drone to the target location, and then grabbing onto the Worldship with its massive tentacles. Once secured, it changed to its dark blue color, and became one with the ship.

The Drone found a suitable 'cranny' in the Worldship (in reality, a ridge five kilometers long and one in width caused by some kind of weapon), and began the hours-long process of transforming into a Hatchery. The Worldship's gravity had attracted thousands of resource rich asteroids to its hull over the millennia, and so once the Hatchery was finished, it wasted no time in producing dozens of Drones to harvest them. Soon enough, a Queen sprouted, and then two, and then more Hatcheries and Drones...in a day, the Hive Cluster was large enough for Kerrigan's purposes. It bred no warriors, only drones, and once the workers had hoarded enough resources, they transformed.

Spore cannons, spore crawlers and Scourge nests burst out of the creep-covered ground of the Hive Cluster. Dozens of cannons shot their massive globs of volatile, acidic spore clusters in a single, coordinated volley, striking some of the Reapers overhead, the kinetic impact easily blocked, but the leftover highly corrosive compounds wreaking havoc on their hulls and internal workings. The cannon shots spread the damage around a large part of the Reaper, while the crawlers targeted their limb joints, thrusters, and weapon emplacements.

And then came the Scourge, thousands of them flying out from each nest in a steady stream of suicidal destruction. The powerful explosions did negligible damage on their own, only adding acid spray to the already extensive corrosive damage, but even Reaper shields could not hold off so many hits at once. Nearly a hundred capitals were destroyed or otherwise disabled in the opening moments of the fight, along with twice that many destroyers.

The Reapers, however, were hardly organics any longer, and the shock lasted only a second. Millions of Occuli burst from the purple-blue hulls, making a beeline for the Hive Cluster, the Reapers themselves not too far behind. The spore crawlers reliably picked off one with each shot, the unshielded interceptors offering little in the way of defenses, but the number of Occuli quickly started to prove overwhelming, as dozens of the spore shooters began to explode in a shower of blood and gore, the former quickly turning into perfect spheres in the hard vacuum.

Reaper magnetohydrodynamic cannons crackled with arcing red electricity, and then the streams of molten metal propelled at a fraction of the speed of light rained on the Zerg base. The thick, superdense flesh of the organ-like structures gave out fairly quickly, unable to handle the terrifying thermal and kinetic forces. The might of the Swarm was quickly diminishing.

All according to plan.

The Reaper assault was nothing if not overkill. Over a thousand capitals had been redirected to destroy the Hive Cluster, based on the fearsome performance they were at the receiving end of on Char. They were not willing to take any chances and so, in their zealous behavior, they left a sizable hole in their defensive perimeter, a weakness quickly exploited as the mighty Tal'darim Death Fleet warped in with a massive flash of red exit vectors.

The _Blood of the Forged_ led the charge, guns blazing; the Mothership's plasma bursts, laser blasts and energy projectors burned through dozens of Reaper capitals, its formidable plasma shields flaring only slightly at the barrage it got in return. Tal'darim Destroyers discharged their unstable crimson energy lances on their Reaper counterparts, the destructive beam splintering off and damaging other nearby enemies, guided by the Forged within. The new Dreadnoughts, Malash's own design, created for the Death Fleet in roughly the shape of _Gantrithor_ -class Templar Carriers, but armed like a true warship, smashed through the Reaper ranks like a hammer against ice, in some cases literally, as they physically rammed the lesser constructs.

What was left of the Hive Cluster added its own firepower to the fight, slowly but surely clearing out the space above them. The Reaper forces that could retreated to their admittedly massive territory, leaving some of their number behind to discourage Alarak's fleet from pursuing them. The Tal'darim gave these sacrificial constructs no quarter, and soon, the battle ground to a halt, the last Reaper silently exploding in a split-second red and purple fireball. The Tal'darim had secured a beachhead, for the time being.

Alarak watched the battle happen from a Warp Prism, the digital environment 'inside' its crystal lattice giving him real-time control of his fleets. The Highlord would've liked to participate in the battle, but he had a much more important task.

The Warp Prism slipped in behind enemy lines unseen, covered by the Worldship's latent EM fluctuations. It dived into what might've once been a service access port on the outside of the hull, and slowly cruised through a field of ancient debris, reaching its destination after a short, five minute flight.

The vessel deployed, turning nose-up and spreading out its fin-like fuselage into a lotus shape. To the casual, non-psionic observer, the dark blue hull beneath the now stationary craft looked the same as before, but any telepath could plainly see the field created underneath the Prism. Arguably one of the most advanced pieces of Protoss technology, the Warp Prism took the beings stored as data within its crystalline matrix, and replicated their organic forms in the blink of an eye. Alarak and three of his strongest Blood Hunters formed in the airless void, psi blades immediately sprouting. The empty, soundless cavern before them did not greet them in kind. Safe for the moment, Alarak took the lead in the short jog to the rendezvous with the rest of the infiltration forces, activating his invisibility cloak, the Blood Hunters instantly following suit. Meanwhile, back under the Prism, a single Probe materialized, and went about creating the singularities that would warp in three pylons, twelve photon cannons, and six shield batteries, courtesy of the Templar Mothership _Shield of Aiur_ , Artanis' old flagship.

The _Shield of Aiur_ and its attending fleet was part of Raynor's Raiders; having witnessed firsthand the honor and prowess of the Raiders, as well as their legendary camaraderie, a small number of Protoss had asked their Hierarch for leave and permission to work alongside them as ambassadors and peacekeepers, to which Artanis agreed, providing the vessels, arms and armor necessary to properly represent the Daelaam.

The small Tal'darim party reached the rendezvous point, where Kerrigan, twelve small, dark gray Hydralisks, and six Umojan Shadowguards loitered around. The Protectorate's equivalent of a Dominion Ghost wore a sealed bodysuit and light armor over it, all black. Only dull blue lenses really stood out of the metallic cowl they covered their face with. Their weaponry was not as flashy as Dominion guns, only a simple, relatively thin suppressed marksman's Gauss rifle, effective at mid to long ranges. The rest of their offensive and defensive capabilities were purely psionic.

Alarak, who towered over the assembled, went straight to the Primal Queen, who looked at him smugly. "You're late, Highlord. Even the Terrans got here first."

The red eyed Protoss sneered. "And you have wasted that advantage doing...what, exactly?"

"Scouting, Tal'darim. I am no stranger to the battlefield. It seems our attack has turned the Reapers wary; the ones attached to the Worldship have begun disgorging their troops, prowling the hull. It doesn't look like they know what we're here for, however." -she said, her eyes burning orange, looking directly through the eyes of her burrowed Zerg, lying in wait.

Scores of Reaper monsters roamed in packs, covered by Destroyers walking over them, and Capitals standing sentry behind, stilled like the largest siege weapons in the galaxy.

Alarak crossed his arms. "The path to the generator is clear, then?"

Kerrigan hummed. "For the moment. Perhaps we should ensure it will stay that way."

"Indeed." -he said, then turned to whatever Terran was closest to him. "Are your fleets ready?"

The Shadowguard, a male, nodded. "Awaiting your command."

"The Raiders and my Swarm are ready as well." -said Kerrigan.

Alarak nodded. "Good. Begin the assault."

Far above them, the Sigma quadrant lit up, with flashes of orange, blue, and green, as the allied fleets arrived. Phase 1 was complete.

* * *

 **I picture Shadowguards looking like Shepard's recon hood self, just in case you're wondering!**

 **Now, on to a couple of possibly controversial subjects. First of all, I will confirm that Halo lore will be a part of this story, as part of a larger universe. I hope this isn't too much of a turn-off (or turn-on! I'm not _that_ good).**

 **Secondly, I'd like to introduce some variety to Terran fleet composition (they have _some_ , not much). Seeing as I've been playing a TON of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, and I really like that TEC ship designs come mostly from old merchant ships, and the Kel-Morian Combine is all about commerce, I have made the executive decision to assign TEC ships and technology to the KMC fleet. What's more, they kinda look like a cross between Halo and Terran ships, which works perfectly for my headcanon purposes. **

**So what do you think about these additions? Let me know in a review or PM! Until next time :D**


	9. Interlude: One Year Past

**Well, the good news is I'm finally getting my groove back on with this story - which has somehow remained popular in my absence. The bad news is, it took me writing some Mass Effect to regain it. In particular, my take on ME3's terrible (in my humble opinion) ending. Call me an optimist, but I wanted to kick Reaper arse, not depend on the pretty lights of the Crucible. Anyway, please remember I'm not going for scientific realism, but rather a compelling (and yes, hella optimistic) narrative.**

* * *

 _ **Systems Alliance**_ **Normandy** _ **-class frigate "**_ **Normandy SR2"**

 _ **In-system transit, Sol System**_

Admiral Hackett had put it best: never before had the galaxy seen the races it housed united this way.

Shepard could see them all from the cockpit beside Joker and EDI, so _many_ ships racing across the void, midway between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The redhead let out an amused snort, unnoticed by her ace pilot; not more than a year ago, she'd been wasting probes 'prospecting' the former planet, just to get a rise out of her ship's AI. Simpler times, indeed. Even with the mass abducting race of genetically screwed Protheans.

Now, the _Normandy_ was leading the truly massive charge of more than a hundred and twenty _thousand_ ships, not just to retake the human homeworld, but to end the last six months of war, and the billion-year old cycle of destruction wrought by the Reapers.

Joker spoke up. "The fleets are reporting in, Commander."

Shepard nodded, crossing her arms. The information for each ship started streaming through her Kuwashii visor uselessly, faster than she could possibly read. If anything, it was likely only a reassurance from EDI; with so many damn ships, it was hard not to feel at least a little optimistic.

"Alliance fleets reporting...Turian fleets reporting...Salarian fleets reporting...Asari fleets reporting...oh, look, they really _did_ bring the _Ascension_." -he said sarcastically.

The Spectre resisted the urge to smack him. "You knew that already, Joker."

Joker shrugged. "Well, it's just nice to see we all brought our sunday blues to this shindig." -he said, then quietly asked. "Aren't you nervous Shepard?"

"Little bit. I'm confident we'll manage to pull it off, but...well, this is _it_. All or nothing. Everyone that can help is here helping already." -she mused.

EDI chimed in. "Geth fleet standing by."

Joker made a triumphant fist. "So are our Quarian friends. I get what you mean, Commander, I mean, the rest of us lowly organics really don't have a choice, but who'd have known the Terminators would be so selfless?" -the pilot said, a little awed.

Shepard couldn't help but agree; it was logical that the Geth would have a very large, very _powerful_ fleet, given they'd had 300 years to build it, but then they'd gone and placed it right behind the _Normandy_ , ready to take on the brunt of the enemy fire. Many Alliance officers had protested at first, wanting to lead the charge to retake Earth, but in the end, common sense overrode heroics. The Geth did not need to worry about dying - their mobile platforms and vessels could be replenished, organic lives could not.

Also, roughly twenty-one thousand vessels offered, fifty-two of which were the largest dreadnoughts in Council space - barring the _Ascension,_ of course - willing and able to put themselves between you and almost certain death, was hard to decline.

The remainder of the Migrant Fleet, still a _very_ respectable seventeen thousand or so warships, brought up the rear of the massive formation, their ships not nearly as durable as Asari, Turian or even Human ships, but still able to dish out awesome amounts of punishment from sheer numbers alone.

And between the two formerly enemy races, lay the rest of Sword and Hammer Fleet, tens of thousands of Human, Turian, Asari, Salarian, Elcor, Batarian, Hanar, Volus and even Vorcha ships. Every known space-faring race in Council space and beyond had pitched in fighters, bombers, corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, carriers, dreadnoughts...everything they had, from the smallest, Vorcha fighters, through the hastily combat retrofitted _Kowloon-_ class freighters, to the only _Ascension_ -class super dreadnought in existence.

"Terminus fleet checking in. Aria says we're all getting a free lap-dance if we pull this off." -said Joker with an amused tone.

"It is a good thing you are physically incapable of receiving one then, Jeff." -commented EDI, nonchalant.

Shepard blinked twice. Joker paled. EDI turned towards them, smirking mischievously. " _That_ was a joke."

The pilot laughed nervously. " _Anyway_ , all ships and fleets accounted for and ready, Commander. And _yes_ , that does include the _Kwunu._ "

Jane shot a glare at him, but said nothing about his jab at the Volus dreadnought. After the fall of Irune, she had no doubt even the normally non-violent methane-breathers were out for blood. Besides, that ship was second among the Council ships only to the _Ascension_ in terms of pure firepower, being armed entirely with Thanix cannons as its main gun and broadside armaments, and top of the line GARDIAN lasers.

"The reports from our scout?" -asked Shepard.

Two hours before, one of the only other two _Normandy_ -class stealth frigates fielded by the Alliance had jumped in-system to survey the enemy positions, deploy STG stealth surveillance drones, and make any necessary final adjustments to the plan.

"The _Puebla_ reports...Jesus, seven hundred _Sovereign-_ class, forty-three hundred Destroyers in a loose blockade formation over Europe and the Pacific. The Citadel is right on top of London, just like Anderson said." -he read from the display, scowling.

Shepard felt strangely hopeful. The reports from the underground resistance on Earth had predicted more than ten thousand Reapers in-system; half of that should be a lot easier to punch through. Never had she been happier about getting wrong intel.

Still, it paid to be cautious. "Tell Dagger Fleet to stay put anyway." -she said to EDI, who nodded. Then Jane turned to Joker. "The Citadel Defense Force?" -she asked, fearing the worst.

"Surprisingly ok, apparently. The Reapers don't seem to care much about them, sent only a token force to keep them busy and away from the Presidium. So far they've evacuated the civvies and kept to the Wards, launched a few minor incursions on Reaper controlled areas, set up chokepoints and sniper nests, that kind of thing. Bailey says they're trapped inside, though. Bastards closed the arms of the station before they rushed it off to Earth." -he said, as they zoomed by Phobos.

Shepard sighed in relief. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Status on Shield fleet?"

"A 30 second FTL jump away, and ready to go."

The Commander nodded. "We're ready. How long until maximum effective weapons range?"

"Three minutes, Commander. Want me to open a line to the fleet, make a speech out of it?"

She rolled her eyes. "No need. Hackett's taken care of that already. Just give me the ship's intercom."

Joker nodded, holding up three fingers in a countdown.

Shepard breathed in, and closed her bright green eyes for a second. "Everyone, this is Commander Shepard."

"Six months, this war has been going on. Just half a year, nothing but a moment in the history of the cosmos. The billions we have lost, that the Reapers have _taken_ from us, nothing but another number to be added to their so-called endless cycle. The worlds, _our_ worlds, that they have so easily burned, each just another lifeless rock they have left behind. This...this is what the Reapers _want_ us to think. That this is just another easy victory for them, one more notch to be added to their tally. That we'd best accept our _fate_ , and go quietly, or suffer for the rest of our lives. They want each and every one of you to believe this is the end of _our_ time in the galaxy. Well, I am here to tell you, the Reapers are _wrong_. _We_ _will not end_. This is the final cycle, the last time they terrorize _our_ worlds, our people...even life itself. We stand united, no matter our species, and affiliation!" -she paused, gritting her teeth. "Half a year. It's been six months _too_ _damn_ _long_. Today, we end the Reaper War!"

EDI gave her a proud smile, while Jeff looked innocently at her. "I thought you weren't making a speech."

Shepard sighed. "I may have gotten carried away."

The pilot gave her a thumbs-up. "Hey, no worries, I'm a fan. So's the whole fleet, by the way."

Before she could ask him what he meant, the bridge was filled with the sound of the temporary leader of the allied fleet, her own mother, Hannah Shepard, covering for Hackett until he jumped in-system.

"Now _that's_ a speech! All forces, this is it: fire at will!"

The sound emulators kicked in...and immediately _crashed_ , as the sheer volume of mass accelerator rounds and Disruptor torpedoes began to shoot out of the fleet's formation. Tens of thousands of rounds a second were being fired, a veritable wall of metal traversing the vast volume of space at near relativistic speeds...and finding their targets in the giant constructs holding the Earth hostage.

Shepard couldn't see much more than the small explosions and flashes of light striking the Reapers. Even at this range, and with her cybernetically enhanced senses, the ancient AIs were nothing more than dark specks against the darkened blue, green and red backdrop of the human homeworld.

Reaper kinetic barriers and hulls were strong. Inordinately so; each of the capitals could probably take on half a dozen _Kilimanjaro_ -class Alliance dreadnoughts and survive. There was a massive difference between that scenario and this one, however, and it was all about numbers and coordination. The main gun on the Alliance dreadnoughts could put out a round every two seconds, and it was one of the slower ones, compared to the other major naval races. Turians could fire one round every second and a half, and the _Ascension_ shot _four_ rounds every second, one from its main battery, and three from its secondaries. Add to that the allies' decision to allow EDI and the Geth to coordinate and enhance the entire fleets' targeting VIs with their vast processing power, and multiply it by the sheer volume of fire, and the result was simple. Under such withering firepower, not even Reapers could boast that much about staying power. _Sovereign_ -class capitals started losing limbs, ripping in half, or being gutted, while some of the Destroyers were simply blasted to pieces.

A dreadnought 'sniper' line formed at the back, except for the Geth ships, which charged right along the cruisers, corvettes, and frigate wolf packs. Most of the Quarian fleet stayed behind to safeguard the valuable giants. The carriers launched their interceptors, putting themselves between the dreadnoughts and the Reapers as shields afterwards.

Shepard counted seventy-two dead Capitals and two hundred and seven Destroyers wrecked in the opening moments, before even the first Reaper shot. That was, to her, incredible. With those numbers, the Reapers could've comfortably conquered a dozen systems. After today, they would never be able to do so again.

The Reapers seemed to sense their side was not doing well, and so they rocketed to meet the allied fleet at knife-fighting range, releasing hordes of Oculi to meet the allied fighters. The drones' miniaturized Thanix weaponry and the mass effect driven rounds from the fighters and interceptors mixed to create a sea of bright bolts, which quickly traded places and found their targets on their respective enemies. The lead capitals opened their crackling, angry red maws, and shot their dreaded magnetohydrodynamic cannons towards the charging vessels.

The allies, however, had an ace up their sleeves. The first red lance went wide of _any_ targets, and so did the following dozen shots. Before the lead Reapers could figure out what was going on, they were overwhelmed by combined cruiser and dreadnought fire.

Unbeknownst to the AIs, Luna was graciously hosting a cosmic horror in the form of the Leviathans. Held within three damaged Alliance carriers, the three psionic abominations were hampering their creations' targeting, shielding, and propulsion systems. Of course, they _could_ permanently disable Reapers, but it would take too much out of them, and so instead they were simply bolstering the odds of the allies with relatively minor 'adjustments' to the Reaper minds.

Of course, at point-blank range, that didn't matter. As soon as some of the Reapers survived to get close enough, the allied fleet suffered its first casualties. Cruiser after cruiser started to take hits or be outright destroyed. Some Reapers didn't bother with their weapons, instead pulling the warships apart with their tentacles, or landing on them, in the case of Destroyers, and blasting directly into the bridges or reactor cores of the ships like a blowtorch.

True to their word, the Geth bore the majority of the losses, quickly maneuvering their vessels to take the brunt of the enemy weapons. Their first dreadnought was crippled when a dying Reaper capital suicided into it, the resulting explosion scattering gigantic chunks of twisted, glowing metal, even as the remaining half of the monstrous Geth ship continued firing its broadside weapons. An Asari cruiser gracefully glided behind said wreckage, avoiding two enemy shots, then came out the other end and unleashed a full weapons salvo on its assailant, whose shields had been previously depleted. The Reaper was defeated, though not before shooting one last time and taking half of the right 'wing' off the azure warship.

Joker's hands were a blur, keeping the _Normandy_ going forth and evading the intended weapons path of either fleet. Their job was to push past the Reaper blockade (easy), link up with the groundside resistance (piece of cake), and take out two Reaper Destroyers that were acting as AA batteries around Hammer Fleet's designated landing zone on London (not that simple). Jane wasn't taking any chances. The away team was comprised of _everyone_ she'd managed to convince to join her. The shuttle bay was packed already, with every surviving teammate she'd had whose obligations hadn't prohibited their participation in this battle.

The _Normandy_ zoomed by a Reaper capital, currently in the process of getting pummeled by the _Ascension_ , when it found a clear path to the surface. "Breaking off. Preparing for descent." -he said, shooting a trio of Oculi in the ship's way for good measure, and then banked planet-ward.

The _Normandy_ spiraled toward the planet, starting to shake as it broke into the outer layers of Earth's atmosphere. "Deploying drag fins and discharge rods. T-minus four minutes to landing zone. You better get going, ladies."

Shepard smirked. "Hell of a job, Joker. Keep us posted...and good luck." -she said, EDI rising to follow her to the shuttle bay, though not before she slowly and carefully kissed her fragile lover.

The redhead smiled fondly at the display, while Joker just shook his head. "Kiss me while we're rocketing through the atmosphere, why don't you."

"I had myself under control, Jeff." -EDI winked.

"Yeah, yeah. Go, save the universe, I'll keep myself busy somehow." -he joked. In truth, his job was to stand by while the allied forces set up two Tanix missile batteries, which would take down the Destroyers' barriers and open them up for an attack run from the _Normandy_ , after which he'd rejoin Sword Fleet.

EDI lingered for a second, before heading out to join Shepard at the elevator and go down towards their fate.

* * *

 **What did you think? There's actually more to this interlude. Angles from different sides of the massive battle, that kind of thing. I'm not sure if I'll integrate it to the next chapters as short prologues, as I do plan to keep this story, at this stage, StarCraft centric. I'm already almost done with the next part of the plot, but I wanted you guys to have _something_ to read. If this interlude didn't strike your fancy, please let me know, and I'll keep the rest of the interlude to myself - until I inevitably post it as a standalone short story, some months down the line.**

 **Anyway, stay tuned! Next chapter takes us back to the battlefields on and around the Xel'Naga Worldship...**


	10. Chapter 9: Shell Shocked

As a career Shadowguard, Lieutenant Commander Caleb Kent had seen many battles. From the top secret, incredibly illegal ops he was not allowed to even _think_ about, to the massive battlefields of the End War on Aiur, shoulder to elbow to scythes with incredibly tall Protoss Zealots and Zerg Hydralisks...he thought no mission would ever surprise him again.

This one did.

The Xel'Naga Worldship did its name justice. It was _enormous_ , extending farther than even his enhanced vision could see. The two-kilometer warships they'd come here to destroy looked like maggots, crawling over the corpse of a massive god, and unfortunately for him, they were all firing in his general direction.

The Reapers were obviously _very_ smart. They'd instantly figured out that the allies wanted to get to a specific point in the Worldship, and though they still seemed to have no clue what it was, they instinctively knew it was in their best interest not to let them near it. They'd landed their troops, sent them running, crawling, and flying towards the allied forces, and hoped for the best.

Of course, the allies weren't without strategy. They were employing a tried and true Terran warfare method, the so-called 'turtling', taking their forces on a slow, but steady march towards the enemy forces, securing their position with static defenses such as bunkers and missile turrets hastily set up by hordes of SCVs, and occasionally poking out with quick forces and long ranged snipers, weakening the enemy's defenses enough for small, concerted pushes, in this case provided by Tal'darim war machines and warriors. The Zerg, meanwhile, were just doing their thing, with Kerrigan having 'parked' a couple of Leviathans at the back of their formation, endlessly spewing landing pods filled to the brim with Zerg creatures and creep.

Commander Kent was not technically helping them, so much as he was taking advantage of their advance. As part of the infiltration team, he and the Shadowguards under his command were 'escorting' the Protoss VIP and Kerrigan herself towards the Worldship's Rip Field generator. It was, to put it lightly, a slog; as they were following the main push, they were hampered by constant fighting, but it was vital that they get there. The fleets above them were counting on their success to break the stalemate. Superior technology on their side was proving an even match versus the Reaper's sheer numbers and firing volume. Activating the field was the only way to decisively win the battle.

Unfortunately, their slow, concerted push had hit a bit of a snag. Apparently, their VIPs did _not_ appreciate being... _escorted_ , and had, for the most part, left them behind. Without their big guns, the Shadowguards were slowly but surely being overwhelmed.

" _Banshee, eleven o'clock!_ " -he heard one of his fellow operatives shout through the comm.

Kent instantly turned his rifle towards the new threat, a freakishly large, monstrous female humanoid slowly shambling towards them. Kerrigan herself had named the monster, once part of an alien race called 'Asari', by plucking the term from a dying Reaper's brain. It was surrounded by a horde of Husks, former humans that had also been given the Reaper treatment, blue conduits running through their skeletal, half-synthetic, half-rotting organic forms.

"Light 'em up!" -Kent ordered, shooting first.

The Husks died quickly; they were hardly armored, and not very smart. Zerglings employed their same strategy of quantity over quality, but even the smallest of Swarmlings were far more dangerous than the former humans. Headshots put them down instantly.

The Banshee was an entirely different story. Dense plates of heavily armored tissue covered her entire form, and on top of that, she had a sort of field protecting her, significantly more durable than a Protoss Zealot's, and equally impenetrable.

And, if _that_ wasn't enough, the bloody, seemingly slow thing could _teleport_.

Even Commander Kent's hardened psyche had a terrible time coping with the threat that the Banshee posed, as she singled him out as the leader, emitting a debilitating psionically charged scream, and blinking in a random pattern towards him. The Shadowguard fired at her center of mass with the legendary accuracy his kind were known for, but the rounds he employed were not meant for such heavily armored targets. As the Banshee appeared mere inches in front of him, he prepared himself to go out swinging, throwing his rifle to the ground and pulling a combat knife.

In the end, it wasn't necessary. A psionic battle cry made him turn to his right, where he could see the massive, ebony form of the Tal'darim Highlord leaping towards the Reaper abomination. Alarak sunk one of his long, crimson psi blades on the comparatively small foe, making the Banshee howl in agony. The monster tried to impale the Protoss, but even its surprisingly deadly claws were no match for the customized, crystalline armor the Highlord wore. A single swipe of the other psi blade across the Banshee's neck instantly ended the monster's suffering.

Alarak deactivated his deadly blades, sneering in contempt as the hideous creature's body disintegrated. Kent sheathed his knife, baffled at the ease with which the Tal'darim had slain the powerful enemy.

"Thank you." -he stated, nodding at the fearsome Protoss.

The Highlord scarcely regarded him. " _Move_ , Terran. I should like to reach the control room this century." -the Tal'darim said, running off towards his next kill, and making Lieutenant Kent sigh beneath his mask.

* * *

Vice Admiral Mikhail Prossev did not like aliens. Not the horrid Zerg or the mysterious Protoss. The former was nothing but a numberless collection of teeth, spikes, and acid, led by an abomination that did nothing but betray her former species, while the latter were a bunch of tall, mouthless, telepathic freaks with a sense of self-importance and a righteous streak so intense as to almost be akin to religious zealotry. If it were up to him, and if he were a part of the old Combine, he'd be ordering his battleship to turn its impressive weaponry towards the abominations that were currently fighting beside him.

Of course, if he _were_ a part of the old Combine, he'd probably be forced to put down rebellions from orbit via nuclear fire, instead, and xenophobe though he might be, he did care about safeguarding the Terran race.

The fleet he led warped into real space amidst a debris field, which made the particle shielding on the _KCN Moratorium_ , his mighty _Kol-_ class Battleship, flare with a green hue.

" _Phase jump complete. Shields at 96.7% capacity, and climbing at .1% capacity per second. Reactor power at full. Weapon systems online and awaiting targeting solutions_." -reported the Adjutant on his bridge.

"Bring up the tactical map." -he ordered, and the holograph popped up on the emitter table.

The bridge was filled with a neon green light. A three-dimensional environment formed above the holographic table, thousands of blue, red, and green dots forming a cloud that was nonetheless dwarfed by a surrounding horde of purple triangles. The specs of the allied fleet appeared beside the map, displaying the capital ships, frigates, and cruisers at his command, as well as the warships fielded by the other races.

The _Moratorium_ lay at the middle of the Kel-Morian 4th Fleet, as befit a flagship. It was escorted by eight _Akkan_ -class battlecruisers, four _Sova_ -class carriers, sixty-four _Cielo_ -class cruisers, two-hundred and fifty six _Cobalt_ -class light cruisers, and one-hundred twenty-eight _Stilat_ -class corvettes. By Kel-Morian standards, it was a heavy fleet, but still small compared to the Fifth, which was comprised of the remainder of the Combine's Navy. After the End War, there hadn't been enough vessels to justify creating an entirely new fleet, and so the 5th was left oversized, comprised of _Percheron-_ class light carriers, _Hoshiko-_ class robotics cruisers, and _Kodiak_ heavy cruisers, all surrounding the heaviest of Kel-Morian ship designs, the _Marza_ -class dreadnought.

Of course, Vice Admiral Prossev was quite content with his choice of a smaller warship. The _Moratorium_ was a powerhouse in its own right, not to mention the massive attending fleet around it. "Have the sub-fleets form a perimeter around us, and set the corvette packs on a roaming pattern to pick off stragglers and enemy fighters. Deploy all strike craft."

Then he tapped the icons for his capital ships. "Your orders are quite simple. Destroy any and all Reaper warships in the system."

A chorus of assent was his reply. He turned to the Adjutant, his only company in the bridge. "Fire at will."

As the purple triangles representing the enemy converged on their position, he smirked in satisfaction, feeling the hull beneath him tremble with humanity's might.

* * *

Kerrigan was enjoying herself _immensely_.

While her specialized Hunter-Killers - part of her 'stealth brood' - smaller in size yet given the capacity for camouflage and better accuracy - aided the infiltration team in clearing a path to the control room, Kerrigan was lending her services as a massive distraction for the Reaper forces.

While she acknowledged the danger that the Reaper troops might pose to lesser beings - a part of her mind told her Abathur was already yearning to experiment on their corpses - her ultra dense, regenerating chitinous armor, and her god-like psionic abilities made their efforts null and void. Their strongest attacks couldn't touch her, and so she had decided to have some fun and kill them all.

Starting with the ones in front of her.

Pure psionic energy beams burst from her palms, vaporizing scores of Husks and Cannibals. Brutes were thrown away like ragdolls. Ravagers were made to burst like grapes trampled underfoot. Banshees were literally ripped to shreds by her superior claws. Not since she'd killed Amon had she felt - and relished in - this much bloodlust.

A Reaper spotted her, groaning in its odd, cybernetic tongue, only audible thanks to the thin atmosphere the Worldship held around it. It was one of the smaller ones, which made her smirk in defiance. The Reaper opened its frontal plates, revealing its weapon, and shot at her.

Kerrigan did not bother with dodging. She summoned a psionic shield, and let the lethal beam wash over it, utterly harmless. The Reaper paused, its extremely advanced mind trying and failing to process the fact that she had not been vaporized. In another time, Kerrigan might have enjoyed toying with it further, but the Queen of Blades still had work ahead of her, and so she decided to end her current engagement.

She leapt into the air, her bone wings carrying her further upwards. When she leveled with its 'eye', she blasted off towards it, covering herself in psionic energy, turning into a bullet that burned right through the construct's brain.

The Queen of Blades burst through the other side, hearing the Reaper groan in its death throes, as it lost power, and thus its footing, crashing down to the ground with an earth shaking _boom_.

Ahead of her, a hundred more Reapers and their millions of troops kept charging towards her. Kerrigan smirked evilly, and went to meet them halfway, a goddess bringing down her wrath on scores of pitiful mortals.

* * *

 **Kids, don't try to write several works of fiction at once. You'll _never_ finish. **

**Anyway, let's see: I've decided to post the whole 'perspectives' thing I have for the Battle for Earth (the Mass Effect side of things) as a separate short fic. It should show up in a couple of weeks as "The Fleets Arrive.", so be sure to tune in if you're interested.**

 **As you can see, the Kel-Morian Combine has some rather interesting ships; as I said before, I want to give Terrans some variety, and so I'm merging the militarized mercantile society of the Combine with the TEC from Sins of a Solar Empire. Expect to see some more exciting modifications and fusions like those soon.**

 **Yes, Kerrigan is extremely OP. She's a goddess walking amongst mortals, so Reapers (at least the little ones) should prove no problem whatsoever. Bigger ones, she might need a Leviathan to help, but still. Kerrigan is also not in this out of the good of her heart - there's something in the Worldship that she's looking for.**

 **Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 10: Chided

There were few of the risen cyborgs on the path to the control room. Likely sacrificial sentries, which meant that the Reapers would probably figure out their purpose on the ship sooner rather than later.

Alarak didn't care. They were as good as dead; the Breath of Creation had shown him so.

The Highlord of the Tal'darim marched on with purpose, hardly stopping to engage the Reaper forces. A single slash of either of his Bane Blades was enough to dispatch most of the enemy types, and those that proved more resilient were left behind for his loyal Blood Hunters to deal with. He had no clue where the Terrans had gone off to, and he didn't particularly care.

As expected, the vessel's equivalent of a shield generator was in a massive room, big enough to fit in a couple of Carriers. The interface for the device had long since fallen to disrepair, but Alarak did not need it; the Worldship's impenetrable power core laid dormant, and so he only needed a spark, something to kick-start the process again. While the energy required to maintain a Rip Field that big would be comparable to the daily output of the average yellow star, the spark itself should be small enough that his own psionic power could provide it.

Nyon had managed it, before, with a small section on the prow of the Worldship. He'd used it to try and destroy the Terrans seeking to grab the last piece of the Xel'Naga artifact. _He_ had failed, but Alarak chalked it up to the surprising resourcefulness of the lesser species, and the incompetence of the late Executor. The Reapers wouldn't run; they would not figure it out until it was too late, and their kinetic barriers would not protect them from the disintegration effect of the field. Rip fields were specifically designed to rip apart organic bonds, and metallic though the synthetics appeared, they had been created from billions of living beings. He could hear their melded thoughts even from beneath the Worldship's kilometrically thick hull.

The Highlord focused his attention on a communication crystal on his hip that broadcast his thoughts to his allies. "Our objective shall be achieved momentarily. _Retreat_ , unless you wish to amuse me with your deaths."

Alarak did not _actually_ give his allies time to retreat; after all, Protoss plasma shields negated the effects of a Rip Field. He was reasonably sure the regenerating effects of Terran metal and Zerg flesh would keep them alive for _some_ time. _Maybe_ even enough to flee the Worldship.

Crimson energy danced over his form, the Highlord reveling in the drunken feeling of the obscene amount of raw psionic power he wielded. Few beings could compare. Alarak pooled this energy into his palms, and unleashed it in the form of a powerful red beam that burned a path directly into the Field generator's coil, which began to heat up and glow.

All around him, the room began its resurrection; systems eons since offline awoke with a start, incomprehensible runes rapidly streaming as holograms on broken screens. Alarak's efforts paid off: the coil ignited, and a deafening hum filled the room. Far away, on the Worldship's surface, millions of emitters came to life, and the void around the titanic vessel lit up with the green hue of an utterly massive Rip Field.

* * *

The Tal'darim's message sent the already frantic crew of the _Hyperion_ into a frenzy. How would their groundside troops get back? Why hadn't they heard from the Shadowguards escorting Kerrigan and Alarak? Would the defense matrix of the battlecruiser hold back the destructive effects of the Rip Field? These questions and more were being thrown around the bridge.

Jim Raynor wasn't worried, though. He knew for a fact his boys would come back in one piece.

"Contact, exiting warp! It's off the damn charts!" -said Ensign Montes, swallowing hard.

Sure enough, the fabric of space-time bent as a massive object phased back into reality. The flagship of the Golden Armada had come to finish the job.

The _Spear of Adun_ made no effort to communicate or even coordinate with the allied fleet. It simply warped in between the two fleets - bearing the two combined volumes of firepower without so much as a chip off the golden paint job - and opened fire. An armada's worth of laser bursts, plasma torpedoes, and hard light tracers began to systematically eliminate every Reaper within the Arkship's _considerable_ range - keeping them pinned down against the field that even now was disintegrating them, a billion molecular bonds at a time.

Matt came up beside Jim, a raised eyebrow aimed at the former Marshall. "You _knew_ Artanis would come in, didn't you?"

"Matt, I've never known a Protoss to resist a good, righteous fight. With that kinda firepower? I don't know that Artanis could live with himself if he didn't burn a few of 'em."

"Jim...he's burning _all_ of them."

Raynor smirked. "Wouldn't you?"

Ensign Smith spoke up. "Sir, we are getting reports that our troops have been... _transported_ aboard the Protoss vessel."

Jim nodded. "Send some dropships, and bring 'em home."

"Commander, I don't think we have enough dropships for that."

The former marshall shrugged. "Then find us a way to dock with the _Spear of Adun_ , ensign."

Matt bristled. "Sir, I don't know that I'm comfortable with these sorts of brazen, non-cooperative tactics."

Raynor put a comforting hand on Matt's shoulder. "Get used to it, son. Only way to get anywhere with our alien friends."

* * *

To come all this way, pretend to fight the good fight, and find that she had been beaten to her actual prize by an upstart with a penchant for theatrics was pretty much the worst case scenario.

Kerrigan was _not_ happy.

"Highlord. That is _not_ for you to take."

The pale Protoss seemed to smirk beneath the ebony plates that concealed most of his face, holding a crystalline, T-shaped object in his claws. "Whyever not, _O Queen of Blades_?"

"The Tal'darim have not proven themselves responsible enough to keep a Xel'Naga relic."

"And the _Zerg_ have?" -he remarked, sarcastically.

Kerrigan narrowed her eyes, circling her potential enemy. " _I_ have. And _I_ am the Swarm."

Alarak chuckled cruelly. "Oh, have you? Did you think slaying the Dark God would free you from the rest of your _numerous_ sins? I have been watching your reign since it began, Sarah Kerrigan. You have more blood on your talons than Amon himself."

Internally, Kerrigan froze, her innermost fears laid raw before her. Outwardly, she remained impassive. "If you _have_ been watching, then you'll have noticed my priorities have shifted. Genocide is no longer on my agenda."

Alarak sighed dramatically. "And _truly_ , what a pity that is. The Terrans struggle to draw breath, drowning within the cosmos, and the Templar willfully blind themselves, in pride, to the fact that they tempt _extinction_ with every Zealot that perishes in battle." -he disdainfully stated. "Even my own kind is lost among the stars, now godless, devoid a purpose. You could wipe us _all_ out with but a thought. I have _seen_ it - the Breath of Creation has shown me. How do you resist? _Why_ do you resist?"

Kerrigan growled. " _Tal'darim,_ what your pitiful addiction to terrazine showed _you_ , the _gods_ themselves showed _me_. I _know_ the power I wield. I know what the Swarm was _intended_ to do. If Amon and his servants had had their way, you, and your kind, and even the _terrans_ would not be here to spite me. But I have _chosen_ to refuse my destiny. I have _chosen_ to follow in the Xel'Naga's ways - to preserve life, to preserve the freedom to _choose_. I refuse to let the Swarm be bound by the chains of our basest desires. Our need for evolution needn't be destructive."

The Highlord narrowed his eyes, staring down for a tense, quiet moment, at the invaluable relic he held. His psi-blade ignited, but Kerrigan felt no hostility behind the action. "What is a weapon, if its master is not willing to wield it?" -he mused, his voice full of bitterness.

"A weapon is more than its master's tool. By itself, it can become a symbol" -she answered, more softly than she intended. "I can see through this veil you choose to portray as contempt and superiority, Forged One. Without your Dark God, you and your kind feel lost - you believe yourselves without a place in our fragile alliance. You've been so _utterly_ enveloped in war and death that to be in peace is almost _painful_." -she said, then shook her head. "I can _feel_ your anger. The Tal'darim are on the verge of plunging into one last war. Strike me down, and you will have doomed your kind."

Alarak ignited his other psi-blade, his stance shifting into something _decidedly_ more lethal. "Perhaps that is what we want, Sarah Kerrigan."

"Then I would not deny you your death, Highlord. But you will have failed the people you have fought so _fucking_ hard to lead. You will not discover what fate would have befallen the Tal'darim. You would, in death, grant one final victory to Amon. A weapon, turned into a mere tool, left to _rot_ without its master."

The Tal'darim roared, a psionic wave scalding even Kerrigan's impenetrable mental shields. The towering Protoss struck at her, deadly crimson blades brought down to tear her apart. Covering her arms in pure psionic power, she held the burning swords in her hands. " _ **WE ARE NOT SLAVES!**_ " -Alarak growled, an aura of power glowing around him. The metallic ground cracked where they stood, the otherwise impenetrable Xel'Naga plating unable to resist the intensity of their duel.

"Then _stop_ acting like you are, and _take back_ your fate, Alarak! Lead your people to the future they have bled and died for!"

The sheer anger blasting her was indeed impressive, but Kerrigan could feel that it was not, for the most part, directed at her. Alarak had a hatred for Amon that no other sentient in the galaxy could have hoped to match. The Queen of Blades could not begrudge the Highlord; his kind were literally experiencing the utter pain and despair that the Protoss of old had felt when the Xel'Naga had abandoned them.

Their lock did not last. Kerrigan grew annoyed, and pushed the Tal'darim back, effortlessly. Alarak stumbled, but to his credit, he did not fall. All true venom gone from his mind, replaced by the usual mask of contempt, the Forged One extinguished his weapons. He looked at her, but said nothing, merely throwing her the item of her desire. Without so much as another thought, the Tal'darim pressed a crystal on his waist, and warped out of the room.

Kerrigan held the crystalline object in mid-air, languidly twisting it around.

"Izsha, prepare my Leviathan for departure. I have acquired the Compendium."


	12. Chapter 11: Revealed

**It's been a long time and I'm feeling pumped about this story, so here you have a second chapter in the same day! Now we're REALLY going with the crossover from here on out.**

* * *

 _The first thing she registered was excruciating pain. Burnt polymers, seared flesh, and the unmistakeable smell of abundant blood assaulted her nose next. Not long after, she regained her vision, almost immediately wishing that she'd stayed blind. She was on the Citadel, alright._

 _She had not, however, made it in one piece._

 _Her body, or at least what remained of it, was a bloody mess. The right side of it was almost...gone. As far as she could tell, her arm had been completely incinerated, as well as the skin and most of the muscle tissue above her ribs, and hips. Her leg was simply not there anymore, only a bit of what she swore was charred bone left sticking out of her hip socket. Her left side wasn't doing much better, with multiple bleeding cuts, bruises, and burns._

 _To sum it up, she was dead. Or, she would be, if not for her extensive Cerberus enhancements. Even those wouldn't last long._

 _This was it: the end of the legendary Commander Jane Shepard. Half blown to pieces, somehow transported to who-knows-where in the Citadel, after Harbinger managed to overcome Leviathan's influence and shot close enough at her with weapons meant to burn entire fleets and the worlds they would protect. Half a corpse, left to bleed out on some empty hall on the Presidium._

 _At least it was a hell of a view._

 _Earth loomed above her, a beautiful-yet-haunting collage of blue, green, and red. She thought through her increasingly hazy mind that Hammer Fleet must've already spread all over her race's homeworld, fighting with all its might to liberate the planet. Intermittent lances of red and bolts of blue were being exchanged nearby, their size too small to her unfocused eyes. As far as she knew, the allied fleet was still winning, and Normandy was out there, her crew making her proud, even as she lay there, dying._

 _It was, honestly, a long time coming. She'd been living on borrowed time anyway. Jane could only hope her sacrifice would be enough, as her implants failed catastrophically, and her last breath was exhaled._

 _"I wondered when you would return."_

 _Jane opened her eyes widely, immediately sitting up as if shocked with a cattle prod. she blinked a few times, trying to get the glow out of her retinas, when she noticed the light was coming from her, and not from the figure above her._

 _A three-fingered, clawed limb was offered, and she automatically took it...with her right hand. She nearly did a double take; she was whole, she marvelled, as she rose and looked at her body. Her melted armor and ragged undersuit were gone, but her limbs had somehow returned, and her skin was unmarred by scars, burns, or cuts, even those she'd had for years. Not a speck of blood could be seen on her body._

 _The voice in front of her spoke up again. "I wasn't sure you would. My newfound abilities are rarely this straightforward. It seems fate favors you yet again, Jane Shepard."_

 _She blinked twice trying to focus on the man in front of her. Now, she'd gotten pretty good at identifying Turians thanks to her extensive time fighting alongside one, so she liked to think she'd gotten this one right._

 _"Nihlus!?" -she asked, her jaw dropping._

 _The deceased Turian flared his mandibles in amusement. "In a sense, yes."_

 _Jane shook her head. "I don't understand. I saw your corpse. You were dead."_

 _"The Turian you briefly knew as Nihlus Kryik is dead, Commander. Betrayed by Saren Arterius, his long time friend, on Eden Prime. Shot through the back of the head, inside his barrier, if I recall correctly." -he said._

 _She crossed her arms, both in confusion and in an effort to comfort herself. "Then who - or what - are you?"_

 _He raised a brow plate. "I am Nihlus, in the sense that I can remember every second of his sadly cut-short life." -he said, then his eyes took on an eerie green glow. "I am also something far greater than a simple Turian, regardless of how talented he may have been in life. As for your question...for the moment, you live. Only your extensive implants are keeping you that way, and then not for long."_

 _Her stomach sank. "I see."_

 _He looked at her, "Not to worry, Commander. 'Not long' is plenty of time for our purposes. Follow me."_

 _He walked over to a platform, past where the Illusive Man's huskified body had apparently been transported with her. She shook her head, and only as she made to follow him did she notice she had been standing above her body this whole time._

 _She looked even worse from this point of view._

 _Half of her face was gone, too. The intense heat had seared off her cheek, her ear, her brow...even her scalp. The bones of her cranium were outright visible, and she had no right eye to speak of any longer, vaporized along with the rest of her flesh. She felt nauseous, seeing her crippled body like this, but she wasn't exactly surprised. She'd felt like she looked, before this whole out-of-body experience._

 _She arrived at the platform, and it immediately rose, apparently unassisted. Nihlus nodded at her as they rose, pointing at the battle outside. "I must admit: I am impressed. Your fleet has broken the Reapers quite thoroughly, with few losses. Orbital superiority is all but achieved, and you know how well Reaper ground forces do without their towering support, against a well coordinated fighting force."_

 _"Not well at all." -she surmised._

 _"Quite so. The Battle for Earth will be won in a few hours, at most. You have done well, Commander. The living reap the fruit of your efforts, and the dead can rest knowing their sacrifice was not without purpose."_

 _She felt relief beyond measure. "It wasn't just me, Nihlus."_

 _He nodded deferentially. "Of course. Ever the humble one." -he said, as a Geth dreadnought blasted a Reaper to smithereens in front of them._

 _Jane felt herself relax. Even knowing she was dying, the fact that the Reaper War was all but won was more than enough comfort. "What about the Catalyst? The Illusive Man didn't have it…"_

 _The turian snorted. "Please. The Catalyst does not exist. At least, not in the way you were led to believe. The Crucible does not need another component. It simply needs to dock, and it will do the rest. It was designed that way by countless civilizations. Had you had more time to study its designs, you would've discovered that, too."_

 _The human frowned. "Then...what is the Catalyst?"_

 _"A trap. A ploy that would have you ruin your victory. The Reapers are on the brink of extinction, but they, much like the countless species they have harvested, will not go out without a fight. The Catalyst is an AI, housed within the Citadel's innards. The AI, the one that created and controls the Reapers." -he said, then added with some mirth. "Much to Harbinger's chagrin."_

 _Jane's eyes widened in shock. "What!? Then it's a trap! As soon as the Crucible docks, it'll stop it! We have to warn the fleets…" -she frantically said._

 _Nihlus put his talons on her shoulders to comfort her. "Commander. Did I not tell you the Reapers are all but defeated? The Catalyst is powerful, yes...but only through the constructs themselves. If it could destroy you on its own, it would've done so already. No, the Catalyst seeks to stop you through other means. A last ditch effort."_

 _"What is it?"_

 _"Reapers are, obviously, quite powerful, but their most dangerous weapon is not a beam of molten metal, or an army of undead cyborgs. It is their capacity to bend your will, to take the freedom of choice from you. You've experienced it for quite some time now. Fought it off admirably, I should add."_

 _Shepard thought for a moment, but the answer was in her mind. In a way, it was her mind. "You're talking about indoctrination."_

 _Nihlus nodded with a pitiful expression. "Indeed. Untraceable, unstoppable. At least, for now. I'm afraid you've been fighting against it since the moment Cerberus rebuilt you. And, though you've fought it off valiantly, your close proximity to other sources of Reaper influence has only made it worse. Your succumbing to indoctrination is crucial to the Catalyst's last ploy. Or, it would've been, had I not freed Harbinger from the Leviathans' control."_

 _Jane's stomach felt like lead. Nihlus was the reason she was about to die?_

 _The turian must've noticed her dread, because he offered an apologetic smile. "I am well aware of the consequences of my actions. I sacrificed you, plain and simple, and I realize that will have rightfully earned me your eternal hatred. But, had you reached the Citadel unharmed...well, the Reapers would've been defeated, yes...but the cost would be far, far greater than it already will be. You would've irreversibly changed the galaxy - given the Reapers, as you humans say it, the last laugh."_

 _"How do you know this?" -Shepard asked, baffled._

 _Nihlus sighed. "My rebirth gave me...perspective, Commander. It forced knowledge upon me so terrible I needed to die - to be freed from the constraints of my mortality - to understand. Among other things, it showed me the path you would tread, and the fallout that would follow. I have observed you since Eden Prime, as I told you I would. Believe me when I say, you would have hated Synthesis, the outcome we have now thankfully made null."_

 _Shepard paled, hugging herself. "I'm not sure I want to know...and this thing you prevented, it's not going to happen because I'm going to die?"_

 _Nihlus looked incredibly guilty. "With the Synthesis stopped, the Reaper War will definitively end momentarily, yes...but I cannot grant you the peace of death. It's why I'm here." -he said, his flanged voice heavy._

 _Shepard frowned. "I don't understand."_

 _The turian paused. "You are meant to die here. This is to be your final - and greatest - sacrifice. Well-earned peace and serenity await you, on the other side. But humanity, and its allies, will not survive without you. And without humanity, all life in the galaxy will perish."_

 _Jane's eyes widened, but Nihlus did not stop. "Have you ever wondered why you've been at the forefront of every major crisis in the past three years? Why it was a human who brokered peace between the many known races of the galaxy? Tell me, Jane Shepard...why do you succeed where everyone else before you has failed?"_

 _The redhead swallowed hard. "Luck? Determination? Honestly, if not for my allies, my friends...the things I've done would never have happened."_

 _Nihlus chuckled a little. "Jane Shepard, I am, for all intents and purposes, a god, and I can tell you that luck, without a doubt, does not exist. And while your ties have quite a bit of merit to them...I'm afraid that, in the grand scale of things, they are not nearly as important as you are."_

 _They saw, more than felt, the station shake beneath their feet. During their conversation, the Crucible had docked with the Citadel, completely unharmed, to Jane's tremendous relief. Indeed, the battle on space seemed to be all but over, with only a few Reapers making a last stand. Nihlus' predictions seemed to hold true._

 _Nihlus gestured towards the bulbous attachment, which had begun charging with a blinding white light, coursing through its entire structure. "This is the product of countless civilizations' worth of hope, Shepard. And you made it a reality. Never before had the Crucible been more than a desperate dream. Never before had the races of the galaxy united to see it through, too caught up in ensuring their own survival over everyone else's. And it's all because of you, Jane Shepard. You bear the weight of the galaxy upon your shoulders."_

 _As the light pooled around the tip of the Crucible exploded into a wave travelling at the speed of light, Nihlus looked her in the eye, those disturbing green eyes burning through her very soul, and whispered: "You are a determinant."_

 _The wave of light reached them, and like chaff before the wind, swept them away._

* * *

"Y'know, we could've talked aboard Hyperion, darlin'."

Sarah hummed, amused, as Jim did his best not to look disgusted at the squishing sound his boots made against the flesh that made up the 'ground' within the Leviathan.

"And miss the face you're making? Never."

Jim chuckled, crossing his arms as he stood beside her. "What's up that couldn't wait? Pretty sure Artanis is still blowing up some Reapers down there."

Kerrigan rolled her eyes. "Remind me _why_ we let that hot-blooded fool keep the most powerful warship in the galaxy?"

Raynor snorted. "You mean _besides_ it being the last hope for his species not to go extinct?"

"Yeah, besides that."

Jim shrugged. "I guess we trust him with it."

If anyone could make the Queen of Blades sigh, it was Jim Raynor. "I guess we do."

"I don't s'pose you brought me here for talking smack about the Hierarch."

Kerrigan hummed. "No. It's...well, this."

The Compendium floated between them, seemingly harmless, if utterly alien. "What is it?" -the former marshall asked.

"A Xel'Naga relic. It's called a Compendium. If Zeratul is correct, it's the last one in the galaxy. According to him, that Worldship was destroyed eons ago, by _something_ looking for it. We are _very_ lucky they didn't find it."

Jim shifted, uncomfortable at the mention of his formerly dead friend. "What's it do?"

Kerrigan smirked. "I suppose it's up to us to find out. Go on, touch it."

He frowned. "Why's it gotta be _me_?"

"Because you're terran. Entirely, _charmingly_ human." -she said, then brought an image into her lover's mind. It was a picture of the Xel'Naga artifact Jim and his Raiders had collected and assembled. "The Xel'Naga may have been the Protoss' patrons, but they truly meant for _your_ kind to inherit their mantle. Why do you think their technology doesn't negatively affect anyone but us Zerg, and the Protoss? Why do you think the Keystone turned me back into a semi-regular human? The gods watched your ancestors...and found them worthy."

Jim thought for a moment. "Is that what you've been doing lately? Figuring this all out?"

Sarah nodded. "Zeratul and Tassadar have been teaching me the history of their people. At least, what little they truly understand. Apparently, the gods _aren't_ born with all the knowledge in the universe." -she snarked, amused.

Raynor grumbled. "Now, darlin', you _know_ what I think about all of this Xel'Naga business…"

"And _you_ know that it's what they needed to become. I could not have defeated Amon without the assistance of the new _Ihan-rii_."

"Doesn't mean you should be followin' their footsteps, Sarah. They didn't have a choice; whatever cosmic power is behind them, it _needed_ to...y'know. Bring them _back_. I don't _want_ you to be brought back. Means you have to die in the first place." -Raynor said, downcast.

Kerrigan looked sadly at him. "I...Jim, this would not be the first time I have died. You _know_ this. Becoming... _me_ , meant losing my humanity. Sarah Kerrigan needed to die for the Queen of Blades to be born."

"But you were still _you_ , in there. Still _are_. I've _met_ this... _Xel'Naga_ , the one that calls himself Zeratul. S'not the same Protoss I fought and bled with."

The Queen sighed. "Zeratul changed much, bearing much pain by my designs...but yes, becoming Xel'Naga is no mere resurrection. I would become something else entirely."

"And...that's what you want?"

"It's what the galaxy needs."

He scowled. "Not exactly answerin' my question, Darlin'."

Kerrigan chuckled, mirthlessly. "Jim, I would like nothing more than to be a normal human, and retire with you to some backwater world, forgetting everything about the past decade. But the galaxy needs the Swarm, and the Zerg need their Queen. I... _we_ are doomed by the needs of the many."

Jim's gaze became steely, but he ultimately nodded, defeated. "I guess we are. So, I just touch this thing?"

There was _so_ much more that Kerrigan wished to say, but her own argument held her back. "Yes."

The former Marshall put one of his grizzled hands on top of the floating relic. For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then, the Compendium lit up, its geometrical shape breaking down into straight lines which arranged themselves around Jim's form.

"Uhhh, what should I do now?"

Kerrigan snorted. "You're like an old man with new tech. Except this 'new tech' is hundreds of thousands of years older than either of us."

"I'm just gonna tap it."

Raynor did so, and a sort of holographic environment formed. Petabytes of data streamed instantly, then stopped and created a perfect image of an average Terran man and woman, detailed down to the individual pores on their bare skin.

" _Homo Sapiens Halitus_." -Jim read.

Kerrigan frowned. "You can read that?"

"Sure can. Says here: ' _An off-shoot of the original Homo Sapiens genome, heavily mutated due to the hostile conditions encountered in the sector of space which it inhabits. Halitus is, in average, stronger and more durable than its ancestors, but suffers from a shorter potential lifespan_.' It gets real technical from there." -he said.

The hologram scanned Kerrigan, then, and shifted, showing the image of a small, Zerg larva, and a 1:1 comparison with Kerrigan herself. Jim read again, significantly more unsettled. "' _Inferi Redivivus Inimicus_.' Guess that's what the Xel'Naga called your guys."

" _Not Xel'Naga. A name borne of pride and frivolity, of vile traitors posing as gods while our civilization became ashes and dust. We are Forerunner_." -said the artifact, the image of the Zerg vanishing, replaced by an armored humanoid, vaguely female in her features, and about as tall as the Queen's wings.

Kerrigan gasped. "Are you...a Forerunner AI?"

" _My intelligence is not at all artificial, Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. I am no Ancilla, but an Imprint, left behind to serve as guide to the Reclaimers whom I knew would one day find the Compendium._ "

Jim shook his head, half in wonder, half in fear. "Who are you? What's this Compendium for?"

" _I am the Librarian, Shaper of All Life. My Imprint resides within the Compendium, an index of every form of sentient life the Forerunner Ecumene ever catalogued within the galaxy. My task since the firing of the Array has been to update the Compendium on the current status of advanced lifeforms, the better to aid the Reclaimers in their Mantle - to unite all races under their banner, and face the threat we could only delay: the chilling Darkness of the Flood._ "

* * *

 **PLEASE don't expect Halo 4 onwards canon. I'm merely borrowing some concepts and names, but the only Halo canon I'll actually use is Halo 1-3.**

 **So! This is the one where the lore dump happened, huh? With the Reapers all but vanished, we can now get through the space battle p*rn and focus on some juicy plot details. Kerrigan's ultimate mission to become Xel'Naga, under the guidance of the current ones, Xel'Naga actually being a splinter group of Forerunners, and a Turian-shaped Forerunner!?**

 **Look, I know it sounds insane, but it all makes sense. At least, I hope it will, as it does in my head.**

 **And now: a time skip.**


	13. Chapter 12: Derailed

**Normally, I answer reviews personally via PM. Anonymous reviews I tend not to pay as much attention to, given they offer no chance at constructive debate or discourse. I'm pretty fortunate in that almost every review I've gotten has been positive, or at least constructive.**

 **So, to receive a review calling me and this story out for "hating" on Mass Effect was kinda mind-boggling. Not to mention a little infuriating.**

 **Let me address that review's concerns (feel free to skip this and go right to the story, if you'd like):**

 **-First off, sod off. Mass Effect is my favorite sci-fi franchise. I _love_ it, even beyond its occasional flaws. In fact, I love the Mass Effect universe so much that I nerfed the Reaper War into the ground just so they could have a chance to be awesome and on relatively equal ground as the Halo and SC universes. I have read 90% of the goddamn Codex, reviewer. So I _did_ do my research. Mass Effect is, on paper, hard sci-fi. Very well explained, very well thought out. StarCraft _isn't_. It's psychic mumbo jumbo half the frickin' time. So, when it came to matching the Koprulu sector against the Reapers, I had to make a few decisions. As I said, ME is hard sci-fi on paper. Visually? Not as much. Look at every cutscene in the trilogy; you'll see that, while the game has a very rigid backbone in futuristic science, it doesn't exactly stick to it 100%. The rule of cool affects all sci-fi, and Mass Effect is no stranger to it. So, in the interest of 1) getting rid of the Reapers, 2) giving the Council races a breather in ending the Reaper War in a handy and well deserved victory, and 3) showing that, while relatively few, the warriors of Koprulu kick ass, I chose not to modify the science of Mass Effect, but to have the SC tech work in ways that could exploit certain weaknesses I perceive in the Reapers.**

 **-Case A: Reaper hulls versus Koprulu weaponry. A Reaper is made entirely of organic beings, and a whole bunch of eezo. That's it. Somehow, the Reapers have managed to make ships out of civilizations. They never really explain how, but I think this suits them. It's a mystery we're not meant - or willing - to solve. Every instance in Mass Effect lore tells us this organic metal is virtually impervious to all but the most concentrated of barrages. That's why it took hundreds of thousands of ships - in this fic, at least - to break through a blockade of less than a couple thousand Reapers. If the Reapers hadn't sent off half their number to kill off Koprulu, you would've had the scenario we see in ME3: despite an enormous fleet, the allies barely make it to the surface. Here, they had a much easier time.**

 **Now, when it comes to pitting Reaper hulls against SC tech, we have several scenarios. First off: you mention that ME hulls have been designed to account for Directed Energy Weapons. This is true, but it's also true that the ME races do not employ lasers for anything more than anti-fighter/anti-missile duty, or ultra close range ship-to-ship combat. Furthermore, they employ DEWs sparingly, as they have a huge problem with heat build-up. If they spam the lasers, they melt, basically. If you have any understanding of Protoss weaponry, you know that they are the masters of DEWs. I even gave a reason for this in this fic. They have mastered lasers, plasma, light. So, yeah, when you compare Protoss energy weapons vs those of the Council races...well, there's no comparison. The ablative layers may render some of the lesser blasts ineffectual, but a warship's main batteries? Not in a million years.**

 **Terran lasers are slightly different; they're designed to fire continuously, smaller blasts meant to chip away rather than outright destroy. They will shoot and shoot until your hull is stripped away, and then they'll finish you off with missiles or skip it altogether and blast you with a Yamato bolt.**

 **As for the Zerg, those things can burn through _anything_. And their numbers are high enough that they'll easily overwhelm any sort of defense system. This includes GARDIAN defense networks. Which, if you'd done _your_ homework, you'd know are not infallible, prone to overheating, and designed to take out the "first wave", and soften up the ones after that. So, no, a Reaper can't resist a swarm of thousands of suicidal Zerg acid bags.**

 **-Case B: Ranges. This is trickier; cutscenes show Reaper magnetic-hydronamic weapons having shorter effective ranges than Council cannons and even torpedoes. On paper, the reverse holds true. Since I decided to give the allies a better chance, I went with the visual interpretation, summed to the payoff - that wasn't really in the game aside from a few measly war assets - of Leviathan. Reapers are meant to get up in your face and ram through you, or carve you into pieces. They're meant to survive the whole assault and plow through your fleet in the aftermath. So it makes more than a little sense that their weapons could have shorter effective ranges.**

 **-Case C: Who Stands a Chance Against the Reapers? Uh, all of the three. Zerg will overwhelm _anything_. Their ground forces would literally trample the Reaper troops. Their flyers are versatile and numerous. THEIR LEVIATHANS ARE SEVERAL TIMES LARGER THAN THE REAPERS. Also, they spit _acid_ as their primary attack. They have suicidal creatures for missiles. **

**The Terrans are all about durability. Their hulls are incredibly thick and designed to self-repair. They can warp to safer spaces, or dive right into a battle. Their starfighters are designed to kill capital ships. Even _Protoss_ capital ships, that is. Every single one of their ground troops wears power armor.**

 **And the Protoss? They're the most advanced civilization in the galaxy. Their basic warriors can blink across hundreds of meters and carve you to pieces with blades made from the power of their minds. Their specialists are either invisible or can create storms of psychic energy. Even their _dead_ come back piloting a heavy mech. **

**Maybe if the full might of the Reapers had been brought to bear, in a time where everyone in Koprulu still hated each other, they'd have had a chance. But these are three of the most powerful civs in sci-fi banded together and annoyed. They've killed an actual god. A few thousand arrogant AIs are not that impossible a deal.**

 **Also, if your way to kill off the _Spear of Adun_ is by flinging a Mass Relay at it and making it explode, I don't think you've thought about military strategy much. Eliminating an irreplaceable means of near instantaneous travel across vast expanses of the Milky Way on the off chance that you might kill the enemy flagship with it - which, let's be honest, would simply warp away and leave you to deal with your supernova - is not a smart move. Even if the Reapers could realistically create a Mass Relay explicitly for this purpose - which they could _not_ , not in such short notice - it would still be a far too costly gamble that has no assurance of success.**

 **In short: I write this story because I'm a massive nerd who wants to see sci-fi universes collide. I checked the lore. I did the research. I took some artistic liberties where the hard sci-fi did not necessarily make things better, sure. So if you're gonna come to my story and imply I'm lazy just because the outcome did not match up to what you were expecting, get the heck out. I'm sure there are stories out there you'll enjoy. Or, y'know, just write your own. I promise it's fun. Despite the occasional asshole.**

 **Now! Onto the story proper, we find ourselves at the start of a new arc! I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 _Four years later_

 _ **Systems Alliance Stealth Vessel**_ " **Normandy SR2"**

 _ **Uncharted system, Perseus Veil**_

Jane Shepard awoke from a nightmare of fire and pain with nothing but a sadly familiar grimace.

There had been many, many events that had been burned into her memory in the past seven years. Hunting Saren, stopping the Collectors, and destroying the Reapers had given her brain fuel for enough nightmares to last a lifetime. Or two, in her case. This last dream had been of the push towards the gravity lift leading to the Citadel, of Harbinger's last laugh. Shepard lifted a white and black right hand, flexing her artificial fingers, trying and failing to find comfort in the soft whir of highly advanced servos replacing the cracking of her real knuckles.

Shepard headed to her bathroom, stripping with practiced ease and speed. She deactivated and removed her arm, placing it on the sink, and stepped into the shower. She could get the thing wet, of course, but she didn't really want to risk it. Her arm was, after all, much more advanced than the leg - a must for her line of work - which she did not remove. The shower took all of five minutes, after which she dried off and reattached the arm to the empty socket on what used to be her shoulder.

"EDI, what's our ETA?" -she asked the ceiling as she slipped on a pair of military undergarments.

" _We are approximately three minutes out from the Tikkun Relay. From there, a fifteen minute FTL jump towards Geth Listening Station Theta._ "

Shepard hummed, zipping her armor's undersuit closed around her. "Alright. Anything from the Geth yet?"

" _Nothing of note. Clearance codes for the station have been received from the Admiralty Board on Rannoch. Fleet Admiral Hackett, Dr. T'Soni, and Director Lawson have already arrived on site."_

The Spectre rolled her eyes - both green, only one of them natural - as she applied the blue paint to her face in a much practiced pattern. "How is it that we've got the fastest ship and the best pilot in the galaxy, and _Cerberus_ beats us there?"

" _Erebus is significantly closer to the Veil than the Citadel._ "

Shepard grunted as she strapped on her N7 cuirass. "Guess so. What do you think this is all about, EDI?"

" _I have insufficient data to form a solid conclusion. However, Director Lawson's involvement could shed some light on the matter; despite Cerberus' current approach to classified information, some of their project records do remain sealed by Alliance Command._ "

"So, some kind of joint project with the Geth? Given their history, I'd be surprised." -she said, affixing her trademark Kuwashii visor to the right side of her face.

" _Indeed. Perhaps the Geth's involvement is minimal, and they simply volunteered to host this meeting_."

"Maybe so. Tell Vega to suit up. You're coming too, EDI."

" _Acknowledged._ "

Joker's voice pitched in then. " _Entering Tikkun Relay; all hands, brace for Relay transit._ "

Jane simply leaned on her quarters' walls, as the near instantaneous travel provided by the Mass Relay took place.

" _We're in Tikkun, Commander._ "

Shepard stepped into the elevator, holding her Carnifex against her hips so the magnetic strip would hold it. "Good job, Joker. Take us to Station Theta."

" _Sure thing. Plotting FTL jump coordinates_. _ETA, fifteen minutes._ "

Jane nodded to herself as the elevator went down to the CIC. Once there, she was met with a comforting sight: the hologram of _Normandy_ , running at 100%. This ship was, in all honesty, and despite her absence of late, her home. Even more than the Citadel, where her and Garrus' daughter lived, currently under the care of her sister-in-law. She was a spacer, born and raised in Alliance warships. Ships were her passion; the priceless collection of model vessels in her room was not merely a hobby. The _Normandy_ was even _more_ special, as she had gained a family she never could've expected she would have. Friends, brothers and sisters in arms - even a Turian bond-mate, and the precious child she'd adopted after the War.

Specialist Traynor greeted her with a bright smile and a cup of coffee - black, two sugars. "Good morning, Commander."

Jane took the offered beverage. "Morning, Traynor. Any new messages?" -she said, wincing as her tongue was scalded. If she felt disturbed by it healing in seconds, she didn't show it. "I'm surprised the _Normandy_ has coffee in stock. Ash normally _ends_ it."

As head of the SPECTRE branch - and a _mother -_ Shepard didn't usually leave the Citadel much. While _Normandy_ was still very much hers, she usually let Joker keep flying it by lending it to Ashley for her own missions. The only other human Spectre out there had gathered quite a reputation, only magnified by adventuring around in the ship that had brought an end to the Reaper War.

"No new messages, no, and this is some of my personal stock, Shepard. There wasn't exactly time to replenish our supply; Admiral Hackett's message left little time to replenish our caffeine reserves."

"It's good."

"I'm glad you enjoy it." -the brit said, smiling brightly. "So, how's Talia?"

Shepard smiled. "Going through some growing pains right now. Nothing she can't handle. Just wish it would pass sooner."

"Is Miss Vakarian staying with her?"

"Yeah, like you said: Hackett didn't even let me figure out some kind of nanny. We're lucky Solana was free this week."

"How is she enjoying Huerta Memorial?" -she nonchalantly asked.

Shepard gave her a knowing smirk. "Gee, Traynor, maybe you should ask her yourself? I'm sure she wouldn't mind making a house call."

Samantha blushed, crossing her arms. "Really, Shepard? After I so selflessly sacrificed my coffee for you?"

"I mean, you _do_ have a thing for pleasing subharmonics."

EDI's combat platform walked up to them. "I can confirm this is true."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. Traynor sighed. " _Right_. I'll be in the mess if you need me, Commander."

The elevator doors closed as the Specialist muttered ' _one time…_ ' under her breath. EDI cocked her head. "We will arrive at the station in ten minutes, Shepard. Shall we head to the shuttle bay?"

Shepard nodded. "Let's."

A short elevator ride later, they met up with James Vega, who was making final checks on the seals of his armor. Geth Stations were not exactly _known_ for maintaining life support, especially considering the Quarians outside Rannoch still had to wear pressurized enviro-suits. Things had changed, but until they got there, it was better to be safe than sorry. Or at least, inconvenienced.

"Hey _Lola_." -he said, grabbing his custom M-76 Revenant from the weapons rack.

"Morning, Vega. I see you'll be completely ignoring the whole 'light gear' point of my briefing."

Vega winked. "Says the girl with a permanent grenade launcher at her back."

"It's part of my _look_ , N7."

"So's my Rev. Besides, it's not like it'll scare off the Geth. Ten credits say they've got Primes guarding the airlock."

Jane chuckled softly. "After Legion's stunt back before the suicide mission, I wouldn't be surprised."

EDI joined them, pistol and submachine gun strapped to her platform's hips. Shepard summoned her custom Omni-blade for a final check, then headed to the Kodiak. Once inside, she greeted Cortez, and grabbed onto the roof bars as the shuttle's engine came to life, and its mass effect fields kicked in.

Joker's voice came in through the internal comms. " _We've arrived at the Ma'at system. Looks like the Everest is here. A Cerberus frigate, too. Station Theta is hailing us._ "

"Tell them we're on our way."

" _Opening hangar bay doors now. Shall I play the Russian Anthem for you guys, or…?_ "

"Hopefully there'll be less explosions on _this_ particular station."

The stealth shuttle quickly left the _Normandy_ behind, making a beeline for the space station's hangar. It only took a minute or so; Joker's piloting and EDI's plotted jump had left them right in their proverbial front yard.

"Looks like the station has been modified, Commander. Life support readings are consistent with Rannoch's environment." -Cortez noted.

The shuttle passed through the airlock, settling down with Cortez' usual finesse. Shepard jumped down and scanned the area; as Vega suspected, a Geth Prime and a pair of Quarian Marines walked up to meet them. Jane grimaced internally; she had really bad luck when it came down to Vega and his little bets.

"Greetings, Shepard-Commander. Hackett-Admiral and Lawson-Director are expecting you." -said the Prime. Its plating was tinted black, adorned with the swirling designs typically found on quarian suits, colored red.

Shepard and her squad followed the hulking synthetic, the Quarian Marines saluting and staying behind to guard her shuttle, following diplomatic protocol.

The way to the meeting was long; Geth stations could be truly enormous, this one in particular being almost a quarter the length of the Citadel. As per usual, there was no way to look outside, so Shepard instead studied the individuals they encountered along the way. The vast majority were Geth platforms, both combat and civilian, fairly equal in proportion. None of them stopped to greet her, but then they didn't have to. She saw more than her fair share of N7 red motifs - stripes, phrases, and designs etched onto their metallic hulls as an equivalent of tattoos - a tribute to Legion's sacrifice, and her place of reverence in their society.

Most of the Quarians she saw were engineers, all of them fully suited. Shepard felt true joy at seeing them work with the Geth as equals, the centuries of hatred all but forgotten. They _did_ greet her, whenever they weren't too busy.

Finally, after half a dozen elevators, and a two minute maglev tram ride, Shepard and company arrived at a secured hallway, deep in the bowels of the station. Jane's expression turned suspicious; this was _far_ too much secrecy for her tastes.

The Prime opened the door for her, and she stepped inside. Vega remained outside, chatting with the Geth, but EDI came in with her. There, she found Hackett and Miranda, poring over a holographic display. "Admiral. Miranda."

The pair turned. Miranda looked much the same as the first time they'd met, her extensive genetic modification keeping her ever beautiful. Hackett, on the other hand, looked more tired than ever; as Fleet Admiral, and thus head of the Alliance's Navy, he had been instrumental in the relief and rebuilding efforts after the War. That meant a lot of sleepless nights, and the trauma of the dead billions they'd had to bury. Shepard knew this trauma _intimately_.

"Commander. Good to see you."

Shepard gave Hackett an informal salute. "What's so important you yanked me from my kid?"

Miranda grimaced. "I apologize for that, Shepard, but we needed your expertise. And that of EDI's, too."

Hackett nodded. "I'll get right down to the point, Commander. Sixteen weeks ago, a joint Turian-Quarian colonization effort found a derelict craft in a system without a Prime Relay, deep within the Veil. When they approached the vessel to help, they found some very familiar markings."

Miranda brought up an image from an external camera mounted on what she suspected was a Turian frigate. A dark, angular shape was dead center, occasional flickers of electricity the only visible activity. The camera zoomed in on a sort of design painted on the hull.

" _Forward Unto Dawn_? What does that mean?" -Jane wondered.

"It is likely the name of the ship, Shepard." -EDI said, analyzing the footage. "Though damaged, I do not recognize that ship design. As human or otherwise."

Miranda hummed. "You wouldn't. But it _is_ human."

EDI cocked her head. "That would suggest a splinter group, such as Cerberus. A well-funded organization capable of developing their own ship designs. However, the odds of such an organization existing outside the notice of both the Alliance and the rest of the Council are astronomically low."

Cerberus' Director snorted. "You might wanna hold onto those odds."

Hackett pitched in. "Director Lawson is right. This is an entirely different scenario, one that we never saw coming. While the _Forward Unto Dawn_ is a human ship, it isn't ours. And by that, I mean our species didn't create it."


	14. Chapter 13: Baited

**WARNING: Minor spoilers for several characters from Mass Effect: Andromeda. Nothing that directly refers the new game's canon, but names, personalities, and concepts inspired by the new game.**

* * *

Shepard felt no shame as she frowned and said, "I don't get it."

EDI seemed stuck processing the fact, so it was Miranda who answered, bringing up a hologram of Earth. "As we all know, Earth is our species' homeworld. Just as the Turians came from Palaven, and the Salarians from Sur'kesh, the unique conditions of our world and solar system generated life, which in turn, led to us. As far as we knew, humans could only be found on Earth. However, after we made First Contact with the Turians, and worse, the Asari, some of our more radical thinkers began to wonder: just how humanoid can aliens get? Is it possible that life could've evolved in such a way that a sentient species be virtually identical to ours? Seeing Quarians without their helmets made this question especially poignant, of late, and it seems we now have an answer for it."

"Humans from another 'Earth', you mean." -Shepard said, thinking about Tali's unmasked face and features. There were some _obvious_ differences, like the legs and digits, and the differing chirality, but once unmasked, Quarians were rather disturbingly human-like. They had hair - though theirs was a lot more uniform in length and texture - ears, and the same facial structure. It was like finding elves in space, complete with slightly pointed ears and ethereal, glowing eyes.

Miranda hummed. "That's the prevailing theory, at any rate. There are other ideas out there, but each gets increasingly less likely."

"Like what?"

"Well...early on in our efforts to explore, and before we discovered eezo and the Mass Relays, we tried several methods to achieve FTL travel. None had significant success, and indeed, more than half a dozen starships were lost in these experiments. As you no doubt know, FTL travel necessarily delves into theoretical physics. There is a _very_ small chance that these lost vessels somehow ended up in a position to be the forerunners or even just the inspiration of whoever built the _Forward Unto Dawn_."

"What, like, time travel?"

"That _would_ be an explanation. We know it's _possible_. But the evidence doesn't support that. The differences we've seen are too significant for the _Dawn_ to be even the distant descendant of those early vessels."

EDI recovered from her processing bout. "I require more data. Was the vessel's crew on board?"

Hackett crossed his arms. "Only two lifeforms aboard. One organic, one synthetic. We don't think they were crew, though."

"Can we see them?" -Shepard asked.

Miranda shifted uncomfortably. "That's the thing, Shepard. The synthetic we have handled; she is a _very_ advanced but critically damaged AI in a sort of self-imposed comma. The Geth have her contained and are trying to repair her. But the organic...well, we needed you here before we could even think about getting close."

"Why?"

"We don't know much about it, but we were able to pull some information from the AI's 'dreams'. Surface thoughts, if you will. Whatever this organic truly is, it is _powerful_. Extremely well armored. Heavily shielded, too."

Shepard snorted. "So, you needed muscle."

Miranda didn't blush, for her credit, but nodded. "The Geth have graciously offered to assist in containing the creature if things go south, but we have no frame of reference for what their reaction to our synthetic allies may be."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "They were with an AI. _Clearly_ they're not opposed to coexisting with synthetics."

"It is possible the AI held the creature prisoner, or vice versa. It is also possible the organic may not see this AI as a life form at all." -EDI pointed out.

Jane pursed her lips. "Alright. I can see how that might be the case. What else do we know about it?"

"The AI knows it as 'Spartan', and we believe she may also call it 'John', but with her in a comma, we can't be completely sure."

"Spartan as in ancient Greece, I'm guessing? This just keeps getting better. And by better, I mean _way_ more disturbing." -Jane sighed.

Miranda hummed. "The moniker may hold some significance; if it was indeed inspired by the ancient greek, and not some insane quirk of alien vocabulary, it may explain its fearsome appearance. Spartans were bred for war, trained practically from childhood."

"Got it. Anything else?"

Cerberus' Director shook her head. "Nothing on it, unfortunately. We know the AI identifies as female, and that she has a name, but we can't tell what it is. Only what appears to be some sort of serial or service number: CTN 0452-9."

"Not much to go on. How does she compare to EDI?"

The AI herself answered. "In terms of raw processing power, creativity, and logic reasoning, I seem to be outmatched. However, CTN's neural matrix seems to be based on an organic mind; she could be prone to instability and other such dangerous deviations from her core programming. Simply put, it is possible her emotions might get in the way of her better judgement. In a way, I envy her." -EDI admitted.

Shepard crossed her arms. "Well, _you're_ here and married to my pilot, and _she's_ in there, barely hanging on. Clearly, you're doing _something_ right."

EDI couldn't blush, but she did spend a couple of processing cycles fidgeting. "Thank you, Shepard."

Jane winked, then turned to the amused pair in front of them. "Where's our Spartan?"

Hackett motioned for them to follow through another set of doors, deeper into the station. "Still in the cryo pod we found it in. Dr. T'Soni and the Geth have been evaluating how best to proceed, but they agreed removing it from the last position it found itself in would only serve to aggravate a potential First Contact scenario."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm not grateful she's here, but why did you decide to let Liara in on this?"

"There's not much we can keep the Shadow Broker from discovering." -Hackett said, grudgingly. "But in this case, we went to her, to see if she had any leads on where our unknowns might've come from, and whether they pose a threat to us."

"And?"

Miranda piped up. "Liara's leads pointed to Cerberus. Somehow, the Illusive Man is connected to the foreigners. Not as their creator, though. More like he stumbled upon whatever created _them_. The actual data died with him, I'm sorry to say."

"Wish I could say I'm sorry about that."

Miranda shot her an amused look. "No, you don't."

Jane shrugged. "Maybe not. Still, I don't like going in blind."

"It's First Contact, Commander. No way _not_ to go in blind."

Their small group arrived at a set of large, heavy blast doors, flanked by two Geth Primes. The synths scanned them, before opening the door for them. Shepard led the way, taking them into a cavernous room, easily large enough to fit the _Normandy_ inside, and then some. In the middle of the room, a massive, blocky, dark grey shape was suspended by a myriad of mass effect field generators, and further supported by thick steel beams, anchored to the ceiling.

A crew of human and Geth scientists milled about the remains of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. Jane could see the name clearly, the glyphs unmistakeable as part of the english alphabet. Another symbol, of a stylized eagle over what looked like a planet, and the letters _UNSC_ under it, could also be seen.

"U.N.S.C. That looks like an acronym. More so, it's familiar. United Nations?" -Shepard noted.

Miranda hummed. "There's no way to tell. But, I suppose, if we're dealing with an alternate version of us, the United Nations could possibly be behind the creation of this warship."

"Speaking of which, any idea what it looked like in life? Its offensive capabilities? I can see the hull is very thick."

"CTN knows, but we've been unable to coax her dreaming self into revealing any solid information. As for weapons, we've identified several point-defense DEWs, about as strong as ours, if mostly ruined by whatever destroyed the _Dawn_. No main batteries, or supplementary weapons systems. Not much inside, either, to indicate what kinds of weapons their soldiers might use. Only a few empty gun racks."

They arrived at a barebones elevator, which took them up to what looked like the middle of the vessel.

The inside of the _Dawn_ was basic in design. Ugly, far too…well, _spartan_ for her tastes, if Shepard was being honest. There were several signs, but most were unreadable, either half melted or damaged by cosmic radiation, a typical result of a ship's internals being exposed to space for quite a while. Indeed, some of the inner panels were pitted or scored, hidden behind dull emitter fields which contained their radioactivity.

"Are you _sure_ this is safe? I have a kid to get back to. Don't really want to give her radiation poisoning."

"We didn't really have time for _safe_ , but the Geth installed some atmosphere scrubbers in the room. Should be safe enough." -Miranda replied.

"Uh huh."

They finally arrived at what must've been the vessel's cryo bay, judging by the stasis pods lined up along the wall panels. Jane spotted Liara in front of the last pod, scanning it with her Omni-tool.

"Hey, Liara. Where's our mystery guest?"

The Asari snapped out of her reverie, dissipating the orange glow. "Oh. Hello, Shepard. The Spartan is right here." -she said, gesturing at the pod in front of her.

Jane walked up to the cryo pod. Through the built-up frost, she could make out a humanoid shape, extremely tall and decidedly muscular. Nothing about it screamed 'alien', but it was hard to believe any human could be that size without severe complications - or extensive enhancements. While hard to make out details, she could see that the being's armor was heavily scratched, dented, and scored, the black undersuit close to tearing in places. The helmet was dominated by a cracked, golden visor.

"It's seen battle. Must've been a hell of a fight. Right before the cryo sleep, too." -Jane concluded. The armor looked more like a mech's plating than the hardsuit she wore; whatever had damaged it, would've likely seriously injured or even killed her.

"And still, it survived. The pod is slightly damaged, leaking power, but it tells us that its vital signs are strong."

"Any injuries?"

"It's...hard to tell. The creature's biology does not fully match with the humanoids the pod was intended for. It's... _confused_ , for lack of a better word. There doesn't seem to be any external bleeding, but we can't tell about its internals."

Shepard nodded. "Alright. Let's pop it."

Liara brought up her Omni-tool again. "Of course."

A pair of Geth troopers entered the already cramped room, which Hackett promptly exited. "Guns down, people. Let's not give off the wrong impression." -Shepard said.

The Geth lowered their assault rifles, and Liara tapped a few commands on her wrist computer. "Activating decontamination projectors."

A field reminiscent of a starship's dock briefly flashed, eliminating all possible contaminants. Then, Liara placed her Omni-tool against a console beside the pod. "Initializing thaw sequence. Stand by for pod seal release, on your command, Shepard."

Though outwardly calm, Shepard readied herself to flash forge an Omni-blade, or activate one of her biotic abilities. She knew her teammates, both former and current, were doing the same thing. Taking one last deep breath, she steeled herself for First Contact.

"Do it."

* * *

 _ **Systems Alliance Stealth Exploration Vessel "**_ **Tempest** "

 _ **Uncharted space beyond the Far Rim cluster**_

This was it.

"Be advised: reverting to sub-light speed in thirty seconds."

Council Pathfinder Sara Ryder held tighter onto the railing before the galaxy map, almost shaking in anticipation. As the first of the Council's new generation of elite explorers, she was taking humanity farther than it had ever gone, beyond space even the Geth had not dared explore in the last three centuries. The Far Rim was practically considered the Milky Way's backwater, when the cluster had once been part of the proud Quarian Empire. In that vein, the Council had decided to change the Far Rim, installing a station and several outposts there, to act as a waystation for the vast expanse of uncharted space between the cluster and dark space. Ryder hadn't been sure where to even start, young as she was, until SPECTRE Command had given her a set of coordinates, in exchange for informing _them_ of what she'd find _before_ the Council itself. If Sara thought that was odd, she didn't mention it.

Kallo Jath, the _Tempest's_ pilot, began the motions necessary to bring the cutting edge vessel back to non-relativistic speeds. "All hands, brace for deceleration."

The Pathfinder's ship shuddered as the mass effect drive core ceased to allow for FTL speeds. The _Tempest_ blinked back into the inky black void of space, a white dot against the massive, dark backdrop of the cosmos. "We've safely arrived at our destination, Pathfinder."

Sara nodded. "Great. Let's go dark. Suvi, what've we got on sensors?"

The _Tempest_ 's science officer replied. "Scanning...star's a standard red giant. Approximately six solar masses. Seeing two rocky planets, a sizable asteroid belt, three gas giants. Second planet is looking promising, within acceptable range of the green band." -she reported. Then, she frowned. "Pathfinder, I'm picking up an anomaly in the third planet's orbit."

Ryder raised an eyebrow. "Helmsman, take us in." -she said, then brought up her omni-tool. "Cora, Liam, gear up. I want you ready for action, just in case."

After a brief acknowledgement from her teammates, the _Tempest_ quickly traversed the system, stealthily dropping probes as it zoomed by each of the yet unnamed worlds. Ryder marveled as she saw first hand planets that no other being in Council space had ever seen - the reason she'd taken the position in the first place. After the Reaper War, Sara had seen much death, being a part of the joint clean-up effort, eliminating the directionless Reaper ground troops and helping the colonies get back on their feet. Ryder hadn't focused on that, though; she'd instead looked most for the beauty of each of the dozens of worlds she'd visited as part of the effort, the resilient spirit of the survivors, no matter the species, the bonds forged by the need to survive. Once the Council decided rebuilding had been finished, and it was time to think about expansion again, Ryder had immediately signed up. Now, she was their first Pathfinder, and directly under the command of her childhood idol, Commander Jane Shepard.

Suvi started muttering over at her station. "What is it?" -Sara asked her.

The ginger winced, caught in her odd behavior. "It's just... _weird_. There seem to be no traces of eezo in this system. Even the most barren systems usually have a couple of tiny clusters, but here? Nothing."

Ryder crossed her arms. "Could be why the Geth and even the ancient Quarians avoided it. The synths don't usually care for anything that doesn't give them an advantage. All the way out here, if it wasn't rich in resources...well, no reason to hang around."

"I agree. Pathfinder, the anomaly is now within specialized sensor range. Data coming up on your display now."

The galaxy map in front of her vanished, replaced by the gaseous planet, third from the star. Ryder zoomed in on the hologram, then saw the anomaly, plain as day.

"SAM, is that a _ring_?"

The AI's pleasant monotone filled the bridge. " _It appears so. Determining object parameters, please wait...object diameter is roughly ten thousand kilometers. I am detecting rotational movement similar to that of the Citadel, though on a much larger scale. The inner surface appears to be suited to carbon based, oxygen breathing humanoid standards. It is difficult to ascertain how exactly this came to be without a more thorough survey, but it is most likely not naturally occurring. The outer surface is metallic, but its composition is unknown._ "

"Jesus. Artificial? Who the hell could've built _that?_ "

"The Reapers, maybe? It's a far leap from the Citadel to this ring _world_ , but they definitely had the resources, and time." -Suvi suggested.

" _Further analysis of the construct suggests no Reaper involvement. Simply put, the technology is too advanced, and does not employ element zero in any capacity, a hallmark of Reapers and Reaper-influenced civilizations._ "

So, _another_ highly advanced race was or had been out there, achieving enormous technological feats. "Any signs of life on the surface?"

" _Several million life forms detected. Distribution and density indicate these are simply the local fauna_."

The _Tempest_ finally got close enough to the ring world to get a visual. It was, in all honesty, breathtaking. The ring made a perfect circle, slowly spinning around an invisible axis. Massive, circular designs - thrusters, maybe? - could be seen in between vast expanses of grey, metallic plates all along the outer surface. On the inside, though…

"It's like they made a ring out of a time zone." -Sara said, her voice filled with wonder.

The bridge doors opened behind her. "Let it never be said Pathfinders need be poets." -Vetra Nyx said, the rest of her teammates in tow.

Sara crossed her arms. "How did you even hear that?"

"I'm _always_ listening. Plus, you left the internal comm open." -the Turian said, sarcastic.

The Pathfinder sighed. "Right."

Suvi piped up. "In your defense, the ring looks _exactly_ like you described."

Before Ryder could thank her science officer, the ginger's display lit up like a christmas tree. "Energy spikes! Over the ring's surface!"

Sara turned back to the magnificent view. Sure enough, tiny flashes of brilliant blue could be seen on the other side of the ring.

"Report!"

SAM piped up. " _The energy appears to originate from an object hovering approximately one-hundred and twenty kilometers above the ring's surface._ "

"Bring it up on my display."

The hologram morphed, replacing the ring with a strange object, decidedly alien in its design. It looked like a domed city, golden and blue, a massive crystalline structure beneath it, currently in the process of putting the hourly energy output of Sol to shame. "It looks like a space station. What's it doing?"

" _Orbital bombardment. I detect extreme, ongoing damage to the ring's surface_."

Ryder's stomach sunk. "They're _destroying_ it? Why?"

"A better question might be _who_." -said Peebee, her expert on all things alien. "Those are directed energy weapons. Several orders of magnitude above even Salarian GARDIAN lasers, I'm guessing."

Kallo nodded. " _Unprecedented_. A species so advanced it has _mastered_ energy weaponry." -he breathed, almost reverently.

Sara scowled. "Ok, let's take things slow. We haven't been spotted yet, so we'll stick with recon. How long until we need to drop stealth?"

"Twenty-one hours, five minutes."

"Send a tight beam comm burst to the nearest Geth station. Have them relay all we've discovered to SPECTRE Command."

"And in the meantime?" -Vetra asked.

"Well, we hope they don't feel like burning _us_...and prepare for First Contact."

* * *

 **In which there's not one, but TWO First Contact scenarios just ahead of us.**

 **I frickin' wracked my head over and over on how to present you with an interesting, non-standard First Contact for this story. Mass Effect: Andromeda gave me the perfect excuse (and the inspiration to continue this fic in the first place, so you have this chapter to thank for that)**

 **I expect this decision to have several detractors, as this story has continued to attract of late. I love how this chapter turned down, and it's done either way, so...yeah. Until next time!**


	15. Chapter 14: Confronted

**Addressing some guest reviews from last chapter:**

 **1) The _Tempest_ in ME: Andromeda and the _Tempest_ in this fic are not the same ship. Mostly, I used it for visual reference and because it's so tied to Pathfinder Ryder and her crew. In this fic, the _Tempest_ is basically what the original _Normandy-_ class stealth frigate would've evolved into, seven years after its design. It combines the agility and stealth recon capabilities of the original _Normandy_ with an updated ODSY drive which allows for much longer travel range and IES stealth systems duration. Also, Andromeda visually shows the Tempest making a general scan of the system upon arrival, with detailed scans requiring an actual orbital visit. I know this isn't how it works in hard sci-fi, but this entire fic isn't hard sci-fi.**

 **2) I always thought it was weird that the Forerunner installations were only meant to be interacted with by Reclaimers, yet the Covenant can just wander around the rings. It's not quite clear what the rules on this are, so for the purposes of this fic, the rules are: if you're alien but not Flood, you're welcome on Halo, as long as you stay out of the actual landmarks (IE Control Room, Library, etc). I address the particular Forerunner response to the Protoss approaching Installation 01 with hostile intent, anyway. And, to be clear, the only true Reclaimers are humans from the Orion Arm, aka Halo humans. NOT Terrans or the ME humans.**

 **3) The Koprulu races are already aware of the Halo Array's purpose. You'll see that as this story goes along, as well as the ME races' reaciton.**

 **4) I'm definitely considering going "f*ck it" and making all my sci-fi dreams come true. However, this would likely be in a completely separate, future sequel. This will stick to the three fandoms seen so far.**

 **That's it! Now, brace for First Contact.**

* * *

 _ **Terran**_ **Behemoth-** _ **class Battlecruiser**_ " **Hyperion"**

 _ **Uncharted system near Terran Dominion borders, Koprulu Sector**_

"Our guests still hidin'?"

" _Indeed. In plain sight of our Observers, as well._ " -High Executor Selendis replied, amused.

James Raynor allowed himself a small chuckle. "S'pose they don't know what to make of you yet. How's the 'cleansing' goin'?"

" _Our sensors no longer detect Flood biomatter on this Installation. I trust you realize we will not stop until the entire Library is but ashes and metal, however._ "

"Oh, I'm aware. Still recall our little tussle on Haven."

Selendis gave him a predatory smile. The fact that he could tell a Protoss smile was predatory told him he spent _way_ too much time with his alien friends. " _Ah, yes._ Proper _war games, unlike those pitiful 'exercises' your Emperor insists on_."

Raynor snorted. "It's _bonding_ , Executor."

" _Were it a fight for our very survival, perhaps_."

"Good Lord, another Amon?"

" _My point is made. We're bonded already, no?_ " -she said, then sighed. " _Regardless, to the matter at hand._ "

"First Contact. So far, it's the best one yet."

" _Indeed._ "

"I'm thinking I send 'em a handshake, go down with my boys to the ring to meet 'em, figure it out from there. The Sentinels are still dormant, right?"

" _By order of your Librarian, yes. For now; things would not be so peaceful otherwise._ "

Raynor stared at a holographic representation of the Compendium, which was currently inside the _Spear of Adun_. "Only _you_ could call glassing a Forerunner Installation 'peaceful'."

" _You were not here for our initial approach. 001 Obsolete Contempt and this ring's defenses proved a worthy foe for my Templar. Had you not arrived with your artifact, our losses may have been significant._ "

"Sarah was right, then."

" _Perhaps_." -said Selendis, unwilling to side with the Queen of Blades.

The former marshall smirked. "I'm sending the message. You comin'?"

" _I shall board a Warp Prism. En Taro Artanis, James Raynor._ "

Jim shook his head fondly. "En Taro Artanis." -he said, then as the communication cut and he rose to head to the armory, he added. "Let's hope _all_ your heroes are watchin', Selendis."

* * *

It had been some time since his last stay in cryo.

The last time had been right before the Ark, in fact, when the _Shadow of Intent_ had plunged into the abyss, not knowing what it'd find on the other side. John found out, eventually: the Gravemind, a rampant Forerunner AI, and a crap ton of Covenant Loyalists in between. He'd killed most of them.

His voice was rough inside his helmet, as he unceremoniously dropped to all fours on the metallic floor. "Cortana?"

No answer came, which made him hyper-aware. As the cryo blindness wore off, he saw he had an audience.

"John?" -the one in the middle said. She _looked_ human; short, red haired, green eyes. Her face had some kind of symmetrical pattern painted over in blue. She was wearing some sort of Commando armor, black and striped red, that looked far too flimsy for his tastes. The only symbol on it read N7. She had a collapsed sidearm on her hips, and some kind of holographic gear over the right side of her face.

He went still, assessing the rest. There were three robots - one of clear human make, two that looked decidedly more alien - all of them holding weapons, but pointed at the ground. There was another human, a black-haired young woman clad in a black, skin-tight bodysuit, and a blue, humanoid alien - _disturbingly_ humanoid, like someone had painted over a woman - in a sort of white, armored lab coat. In the back of his mind, he wondered: _just how long were we out?_

"Spartan? I am Jane Shepard, Council Spectre and Commander in the Alliance Navy. We recovered the remains of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ two weeks ago, found you inside. We bear you no ill will, but we _need_ to figure out who you are, and why you're here." -the redhead explained.

"Where's Cortana?" -he asked, evaluating the state of his armor, still unmoving. MJOLNIR had seen better days; the shield generator was offline, his visor was cracked, and there were a number of tears in his bodysuit. No Flood contamination that he could tell, at least, but as far as he could feel, he had a couple of cracked ribs - one of the larger Flood forms had gotten _lucky_ \- a torn Achilles heel, and _extensive,_ half healed bruising.

"CTN 045-9? Is Cortana the name of your AI?"

" _Where. Is. She?_ " -he asked, rising to his full height, _towering_ over the rather short woman.

To her credit, the woman seemed unimpressed. "Your AI was critically damaged. Cortana is being restored as we speak." -she patiently explained. John stiffened, which the woman caught, pointing at the alien robots. " _Calm down_. See them? They are Geth. A race of sentient AI, and the only reason Cortana has a fighting chance. You have my word: they will _not_ change anything about her. They'll only get her back on her feet. Isn't that right?" -she asked the 'Geth'.

The left robot answered, its voice an oddly spirited monotone. " _Cortana-Intelligence will not be harmed, Shepard-Commander. The Geth seek only to aid._ "

John narrowed his eyes behind the cracked visor. "I want to see her."

"You _will_. I promise. But first, you need to tell us who you are, and why your severed ship was drifting in Quarian space, Spartan John."

He evaluated the situation. There were...possibilities. The Commander was clearly human, and so was the dark haired woman in the bodysuit, but they seemed... _different_ , somehow. Nevermind their attire, a far cry from the bulky armor the UNSC fielded or even the patchwork that the Insurrectionists usually cobbled up. It was something in their faces, their postures, even their very eyes. A dark thought went through his head. "What year is it?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "2191."

Well, _that_ was not possible. Was it? He'd thought maybe they'd slept into the far future. But the _past_? And an _alternate_ past at that? "These 'Quarians', who are they? Aliens?"

"Yes. The Geth's creators, in fact."

He pointed to the blue near-human. "And her?"

" _Siu ei. Elleppa'm ei Liara T'Soni, te'ei siu n'Asari._ " -the alien said. Her voice sounded pleasant enough, but he was still stiff as a board; no matter how humanoid she seemed, she was still obviously an alien. She'd leave the _how_ of her disturbing appearance to Cortana, once he got her back, but his gut told him not to be trusting of the blue near-human.

"Translate." -he told the redhead.

Commander Shepard didn't seem like she appreciated his tone, but she patiently answered. "She said she _is_ an alien, that her name is Liara T'Soni. She is an Asari."

"How many more alien species has humanity met? Elites? Grunts? Brutes?"

Jane Shepard frowned. "None of those, no. There are fifteen sentient species affiliated to the Council, including humanity, plus two we are in negotiations with, and one we are attempting to save from extinction."

"Name them."

"Asari, Salarian, Turian, Volus, Elcor, Hanar, Drell, Quarian, Geth, Batarian, Krogan, Vorcha, Raloi, and Rachni. We are working on developing diplomatic ties with the Yahg, and just last year we discovered the Angara. They're in the process of setting up their embassy on the Citadel, our capital."

He knew the Elites had a name for their kind. Every species in the Covenant did. Unfortunately, none of these names rang a bell. "And the endangered ones?"

"Protheans. A race that very nearly went extinct fifty thousand years ago. We rescued one five years back, and since then we've discovered several pockets of survivors in stasis. Still, they're barely enough for a long term viable population."

"Does the word Forerunner mean anything to you?"

Shepard shook her head. "Nothing relevant. Just a vague synonym for 'ancestor', or 'predecessor'."

The Master Chief nodded. "I want to see Cortana."

"Would you be willing to answer a couple of questions before we go?"

"Ask on the way."

Shepard seemed to consider this, before nodding reluctantly. "Follow the Geth."

The robots immediately moved, leading the way out of the cryo bay. John spared one last glance at the holotank he'd last seen Cortana in, and debated whether or not to take the nearly spent assault rifle inside the pod, but figured that, if pressed, he could just grab a fresh one from the Geth. Jane Shepard motioned for him to walk beside her, so he did. The other human, the Asari, and the humanoid robot followed close behind them.

"Who are you?" -Shepard asked.

"Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Sierra-117."

"Sierra…'S' for 'Spartan'?"

The man lifted his chin. "Classified."

Shepard snorted. "I'll take that as a yes, John."

"Master Chief. _Don't_ call me John."

The Commander nodded, unperturbed by his ultimatum. "I guess I'll have to earn that. What is Cortana- ?"

" _Classified_."

Jane sighed. "I'm not asking about her specs, Chief. I'm asking why you care about her so much. People aren't usually so devoted to AI. Even now, some see them with distrust."

John hesitated. "Cortana is...a friend."

Shepard nodded. "I understand. EDI back there is my friend, too. I'm guessing you aren't the type to be surrounded by friends. Even _before_ you found yourself in this situation."

"No."

"It doesn't have to be that way. Like I said, we bear you no ill will. It's an easy leap from that to friendship. Especially for a guy your size." -she said, kindly.

John didn't laugh. "We'll see."

"Cortana first, huh?"

"Yes."

They walked quietly after that. The hallways were tall, and wide, made from some purple and blue metallic alloy his HUD systems couldn't identify. It was oddly reminiscent of Covenant warships, though not so similar as to be compared beyond curved, organic aesthetics.

"Are you human, Master Chief?"

"...yes."

Shepard hummed. "Not from one of our colonies. Your tech is nothing like we're used to."

"No."

"Your homeworld is Earth?"

"Not my own, but humanity's, in general, yes."

"Not _our_ Earth, though."

John shrugged. "I don't know."

"So, either you're from an alternate universe, or another point in time. Probably, judging by your armor, from the far future."

"The year is 2552 for me." -he said.

"But you don't know Liara's people. Nor, I think, any of the other species I mentioned."

"No."

"You're human, but...enhanced. A supersoldier."

It wasn't a question. He still wasn't about to fully trust this Commander Shepard. "Classified."

"I get that, too. I used to be just a soldier. A _good_ one, sure, but ultimately, no more special than anyone else. Then I _died_. Spaced just above a frigid little rock called Alchera. They brought me back in a fancy new body, with fancy new abilities, but...well, let's just say it was a learning experience. It's been six years and sometimes I still I wonder if I'm still human."

"You're human. Only enhanced." -he replied. It wasn't a question either.

Shepard hummed in agreement. "That's right. What about the UNSC?"

"United Nations Space Command."

"Your government?"

"Military arm of the United Earth Government, given emergency executive power due to extraordinary circumstances."

Shepard winced. "Sounds familiar. We call our government the Systems Alliance."

John raised his eyebrow behind the visor. "...familiar _how_?"

"Well, from the sounds of it, you were forced to give more power to your military to survive _something_. We were, too. The Alliance used to be more of a representative of the nations of Earth, and the governors of each colony before the Citadel Council, less so an actual government. Then, there was...an invasion, about five years ago. Sentient AI warships from beyond the galactic rim. We call them Reapers. They nearly destroyed our civilization, as they did to others every fifty thousand years or so. Now the Alliance is actually, fully in charge. Supposedly, at least until our nations and colonies get fully back on their feet, but I can't imagine we'll revert to pre-Reaper War government anytime soon."

John stopped in his tracks. "You stopped these...Reapers?"

Jane made a face like it was a sore subject. "It was never just me. It was a team effort. Every species in Council space pitched in. Eventually, we were able to defeat them, though not without enormous sacrifices. It was very, _very_ nearly our end."

The Spartan thought for a moment. "We called _our_ end the Covenant. A theocratic conglomerate of hostile alien species."

"Ah. Is that why you keep eyeing Liara?"

John felt no shame at getting caught, but he still avoided that particular answer. "First Contact ended in a glassed human colony. It only got worse from there."

"Did _you_ stop them?"

"...it was a team effort."

"You and Cortana, you mean."

John nodded. "Yes. Plus a coalition of remaining UNSC forces and Covenant Separatists."

She stared up and down at his damaged armor. "Looks like you cut it a little close."

"The Covenant got so far as landing on Earth. Africa ended up glassed."

Shepard scowled. "I'm sorry. They took Earth from us, too. But we eventually got it back."

John allowed some feeling into his voice. "I hope we did, too."

In what was quickly becoming custom between them, Shepard nodded, understandingly. "Tell me about them."

"The Covenant?"

"The Separatists you mentioned. Odd that you'd ally with those that very nearly exacted genocide on your kind."

John very nearly scowled. He _wanted_ to say 'It was a sound strategy', but that's not what came out. "There was no choice. Our forces were severely depleted, and the Covenant's leader planned to activate a superweapon that would've wiped out all life in the galaxy. The Separatists were willing to ally with us to stop him. They had ships, and hordes of pissed off warriors. We couldn't have refused."

"Did you _want_ to refuse?"

"I fought the Covenant for nearly twenty-eight years."

"Not exactly answering my question."

John hesitated. "A part of me, yes. Another, not so much. The Covenant were tricked. Lied to. Led to believe destroying humanity would lead them to salvation. Once they figured out that was false, they were…" -he trailed off.

"Allies?" -Jane suggested.

"More than that. Brothers. Friends." -he said, then added, with a shrug. "Some of them."

"I know it can't compare, but First Contact for us was with the Turians. We went to war with them over a colony they captured...and now we're very close allies. See this?" -she said, pointing to the strange blue pattern painted on her face. "My bond-mate, Garrus Vakarian, is a Turian. No better evidence that things _can_ change for the better. If you could befriend one of your aliens, after fighting them for so long...maybe more of your kind could, too. Maybe, back home, your people finally know peace."

John had a brief but fierce debate inside his head on whether to be disgusted or awed that this human had, apparently, married an alien. He settled for: "Maybe."

"I've seen it happen more than once. Quarians and Geth, Salarians and Krogan...more often than not, our need for peace eventually wins out against our desire for conflict."

John would admit he could, somewhat, see that happening. The marines back on the Ark had, of course, had a difficult time adjusting to working shoulder to elbow with the Elites. However, once they'd spent enough time together, it'd become pretty clear that they really weren't so different. Beneath the dogmatic alien veneer lay a sense of pride and honor, of true respect for their enemies. And underneath the hardened survivor façade, all that the humans truly desired was to defend the people they loved. Each side could respect that about the other. The wounds might run too deep to truly heal, but John could potentially see them scarring.

The group finally arrived at a set of blast doors, flanked by a couple of large Geth, who let them pass without so much as a gesture. Inside was a sort of combination lab and hyper-advanced server room, where several Geth milled about, joined by a couple of aliens reminiscent of the sentient robots. The new aliens were also humanoids, though their legs were digitigrade, their hands had three fingers, and their hips and shoulders were wider than the average human's. All he could see of their actual bodies - covered entirely in what he concluded were stylized, sealed environmental suits - was a pair of glowing orbs behind their lilac visors that he assumed were their eyes.

One of the aliens - likely female, if her sexual dimorphisms were like a human's - walked up to the Commander, who greeted her. "Hey, Tali."

" _Salo'm, Shepard. Nem zi allachon ya arat'nga valiy-do'st bori-ya?_ " -the alien replied. A blinking light flashed with every sillable, her voice higher pitched than Liara's, but distorted by her helmet.

Shepard chuckled. "I'm just glad we didn't have to fight. Have you seen this guy?"

The alien looked him up and right. " _Ne m'albat-ta ro._ "

John looked at Shepard. "Translation?"

She smirked. "She's impressed. Do you trust me Chief? Just a little?"

He straightened. "For now."

Shepard brought her right arm up, which then became enveloped in a glowing, orange holograph. The Chief tensed up, but Shepard gestured for him to calm down. "This is an Omni-tool; basically, a handheld computer-slash-fabricator. You'll see a _lot_ of these if you stay with us for any length of time. Do your armor systems support wireless data transfers?"

John would not be ashamed to admit that the following decision was a _huge_ leap of faith for him. "...yes."

Jane nodded, then tapped a few icons using what he imagined was some sort of haptic interface. His HUD was then filled with foreign but clearly readable data, which streamed so fast even his enhanced senses couldn't figure it out. "What did you do?" -he said, as the transfer finished.

"Gave you our latest real-time translator software. As far as I can tell, you speak boring old English, so this should cover you, at least for now."

" _It_ will _. I designed that particular program._ " -said the humanoid in the enviro-suit.

John allowed himself a small smirk. "It works."

Shepard grinned. "Great! Now, proper introductions: this is Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch, one of my best friends. Our mystery guest is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117." -she said.

" _John...that is a human name, no?_ " -the alien said. If John instinctively straightened up at the mention of her military rank, no one chose to mention it.

"I'm human." -John confirmed, ignoring his annoyance at the casual use of his name.

Tali hummed. " _I know human tech, and yours isn't._ "

Shepard crossed her arms. "It's a long, developing story. I take it you're helping fix Cortana?"

" _The Geth have it mostly covered. I'm just supervising._ " -she said, then turned to the Chief. " _Your AI is..._ keelah _, even the Geth are impressed. So much more advanced than anything organics had ever created_."

John felt a tiny spike of pride. "Cortana is...special."

" _No argument here. She is resting, but she's eager to see you again_."

Shepard cleared her throat. "We'll give you two some space."

The Geth working on the console and Tali'Zorah walked away with Shepard and her team. John walked towards an alien holotank, taking slow, measured steps. The display slowly came to life, showing the comforting blue form of his most treasured companion.

"John?"

* * *

 **I hope against hope that I got John-117 right. Maybe I didn't, but I've spent the last week listening to him talk, and reading his dialogues from every book I have. He's willing to work with Shepard, but has a hard time with the aliens - though their humanoid appearance definitely helps. Just wait until he meets a turian, or a krogan.**

 **Still, John is the ultimate pragmatic. He's in a pretty desperate situation, so for now, he'll play along. He just needs more data to take the bigger decisions.**

 **I definitely wrote an alternate, more violent take on this First Contact scenario. Chief fighting his way to Cortana, tearing through the Geth station. Seemed a little too mindless, and painted the Chief in a very negative light, so I scrapped that entirely. This feels more natural, if a bit optimistic. I hope his hesitance to trust Shepard & co. shines through enough.**

 **BTW, I used some reversed/modified french for Liara's alien speech, and some reversed/modified romani for Tali's khelish. It looks cool but I am _definitely_ happy I got to instant translators quickly.**

 **What did you think? Let me know in a - hopefully signed - review! Until next time.**


	16. Chapter 15: Shocked, pt 1

**Shorter chapter this time around, but I simply couldn't bear this chapter ending on anything other than the final line.**

* * *

 _ **Systems Alliance SEV**_ " **Tempest"**

 _ **In orbit of "ring world" construct.**_

"Alright, SAM, what've we got?"

The blue-tinted hologram showed her the scans taken of the ring world, as well as all the relevant data her AI and science officer had been able to piece together. Sara remembered the first time she'd ever seen the Citadel; all forty-four-odd kilometers of it. It was both the heart and brain of galactic civilization as she knew it, a magnificent creation whose beauty could not be diminished, even in light of the evil nature its creators had intended for it. Everyone knew the truth - that the Reapers had created the Citadel and the Relay Network with the intent of 'herding' all galactic civilizations along a preferred path - yet Sara couldn't help but respect the sheer engineering prowess required to design and build the Reaper constructs.

This thing, however, blew everything the Reapers had accomplished out of the metaphorical water. The ring world made the Citadel look small, even pitiful in comparison. Were they to be compared side-by-side, the Citadel would seem but a satellite for the ring. Sara's talents didn't lay in combat - that was covered, mostly, by her integrated AI - but in science and exploration; she couldn't wait to figure out the secrets of the ring, and whoever had built it.

"Look at those percentages...the air mixture in the ring's atmosphere is nearly identical to Earth's. 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen." -Sara said.

Cora crossed her arms. "Haven't seen that since Eden Prime. If the history books are correct, the Alliance went _nuts_ when they surveyed it."

"The better question is, how does a planetary body like _that_ keep an atmosphere, let alone an ecosystem?" -Vetra questioned, gesturing at the rough scans of life forms the _Tempest_ had detected earlier..

Ryder shrugged. "The same way it was created, probably. Artificially."

"Guys, look at the Gs; 1 Earth standard. Does anyone else get an eerie feeling that we were _supposed_ to find this ring?" -Liam asked.

"Humankind, you mean." -Peebee said, pensive.

Kosta nodded. "It's basically tailor-made for us, no? Same air we evolved to breathe, same atmospheric pressure, same gravity...I bet the animals down there are edible and everything, too."

"Most animals are, if you're brave enough." -Drack interjected, amused.

"I get what Liam is saying, though. Look at the landmasses, the bodies of water; it's like a slice of Earth." -Sara breathed.

"Earth _is_ uniquely beautiful, but most garden worlds look similar to this. Harper just mentioned one - Eden Prime, Virmire, Terra Nova..." -Vetra countered.

Cora pursed her lips. "Logically, I know Vetra is correct. But I can't shake this... _feeling_ that Ryder and Liam are right. I know it sounds like bullshit, but I could believe that we were somehow _meant_ to find this ring."

Peebee rubbed at her chin. "You're all humans, and you're the only ones so awe-struck, so there _could_ be some truth to that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this ring was _obviously_ built by someone far more advanced than even the Reapers. And we've seen this... _benefactor_ -like behavior before, in the Protheans. They left caches of eezo on Mars for you to simply take, and pointed you to your system's Mass Relay. Maybe this unknown species did something similar." -she shrugged. " _Ooor_ you guys are just caught up in the moment."

Sara narrowed her eyes. "SAM, any signals from the ring? Maybe whoever built the ring left us a message."

" _Scanning._ _Though I can identify a myriad of artificial structures present on the ring, there appear to be no signals emanated from them. However, I am detecting a repeating data pattern coming from a point in space, thirty kilometers away from the smaller alien structure currently bombarding the ring._ "

The hologram showed the signal's source, but it simply looked like empty space. Sara frowned.

"What's the data saying?"

" _My analysis indicates this seemingly random data string contains a basic handshake protocol, as well as a set of coordinates and a flight plan for a vessel of our approximate specifications to land on a zone on the ring diametrically opposed to the orbital bombardment site._ "

Sara's blood ran a little colder. "They know we're here?"

" _That would be an acceptable conclusion. The 'message' is contained in a binary data string, considered a universal language for all known technology. The signal is also being broadcasted omni-directionally, though its reach is limited to this planet's orbit._ "

Ryder scowled. "They might've caught our FTL exit vector, before we began to run silent."

The group sombered as they considered the possibility. "If that's the case, then they might be waiting on _us_ to initiate First Contact." -Peebee said.

" _That's_ optimistic." -Drack said.

"Have a little hope, Drack. Maybe this'll be more like the Angara, and less like the Turians."

"What're we doing, then, Pathfinder?" -Cora asked.

Sara mulled her words over for a second. "Well, we need to explore this ring. Be a shame to waste that landing zone. Everyone, gear up. Let's hope for the best, but expect things to go south." -she said, then brought up her Omni-tool and sent the data to Kallo. "Drop the stealth and take us in." -she ordered.

The _Tempest_ angled itself, then roared, a subsonic boom that signalled their landing approach. The sleek exploration vessel soon found itself breaching the ring's surprisingly thick atmosphere, the discharge rods along its hull leaving arcs of lightning behind, the drag fins extending and slowing their near-free fall to a manageable speed. Once stabilized, the _Tempest_ cruised at a decreasing altitude, mapping the terrain it passed as it went along with far greater detail than any orbital scans. As Sara felt the ship prepare for landing, she walked off the observation deck, and down to the hangar bay.

Her team stood in front of the Nomad, the rover especially designed for a Pathfinder and their team. Her crew looked decidedly nervous - some excited, others anxious, plus a bafflingly indifferent old Krogan - but they were all ready. At least, she supposed, as ready as anyone could ever be for potential First Contact.

The _Tempest_ landed with a soft _thump_ , the hangar door opening with a satisfying set of hydraulic hissing. As per mandated by protocol, the crew walked out in fully sealed hardsuits, weapons at the ready, but not in such a way as to incite violence, mostly pointing toward the ground in front of them.

Even through the filter of her visor and HUD, Sara could appreciate the sheer beauty of the place they'd landed on - a sort of valley with a rock formation around it, a waterfall decorating said formation. The grass was a vibrant shade of green, devoid of any and all dry spots, and the few trees that dotted the valley were all in full bloom. Above them, the sky was perfectly clear, the system's star shining bright and the gas giant's looming form nicely complementing the thin but wondrous expanse of the rest of the ring world. In Sara's personal opinion, it looked even better than the only planet with rings she'd ever explored.

Her team flared out, covering the area immediately in front of the _Tempest_. Sara brought up her Omni-tool, scanning the soil, and the grass at her feet. "This is _really_ getting freaky, guys. _Agrostis stolonifera_? That's common grass. The kind you find on _Earth._ "

"Looks like your theory's gaining ground, Miss B'Sayle." -Cora said.

Their Asari companion looked far too excited to care about the usage of her full last name. "I _know_. Isn't it exciting?"

"Not if you really think about the implications. This ring can't be anywhere near new, right? We would've noticed. We know the Protheans were looking at us fifty thousand years ago thanks to that artifact on Eletania, right? What if someone _else_ was looking?" -Ryder said.

Cora knelt, inspecting the soil. "There any way to tell how old this ring is, SAM?"

The AI replied in Sara's mind. " _I am trying to make sense of our scans, but we may not have the specific equipment required to ascertain this._ "

Sara's HUD let her know the _Tempest_ was hailing her. "Go ahead."

" _Away team, be advised, an unidentified flying object is approaching our LZ._ "

Ryder steeled herself. "Acknowledged, _Tempest_. Keep the engines hot and your shields up." -she said, the turned to her team. "Heads up, people, we're about to have company."

Ahead of them, they could see as not one, but two _radically_ different flying objects approached. One of them, and perhaps the most recognizable as an aircraft, was a large, black and blue dropship-like vehicle with wide wings, a visible cockpit, and oversized thrusters. The other was far sleeker, but seemingly much more fragile, almost like it was made of gold-trimmed, bright blue glass, arranged like overlapping crystalline sheets. Ryder could see no form of propulsion on the latter vehicle.

" _Two species_?" -Cora whispered through the private comm channel.

" _Must be. Too different to be just one._ " -Peebee replied.

The lead ship started hovering, about two hundred meters away, coming to an audibly rough landing that nevertheless barely shook the vessel. The other vessel also stopped, but it did not land; instead, it pointed its nose up, the crystalline sheets rearranging completely until it resembled a spinning lotus flower, a large, approximately person-sized cyan crystal at its center.

Ryder and company walked forward, crossing the no man's land and stopping at the halfway point. The landed ship's hatch opened, revealing a set of very tall, very wide humanoid beings in extremely heavy black and blue armor. Indeed, Ryder could've believed they were mechs, their plating was so thick. They were clearly organic, though, their movements too chaotic to come from a synthetic, even if she could not see an inch of flesh, their presumable heads hidden behind a thick, golden visor. All of the beings carried heavy rifles, each about as thick as she was wide, more akin to vehicle mounted turrets than handheld weapons.

The creature at the front had several notable customizations on its armor; its golden visor had a stylized skull scratched into it, and the armor itself was entirely black, only a design of a serpentine creature adorning the left pauldron. Upon closer inspection, Sara realized all of the armors were dented and scratched, which could speak to a few things: prowess in battle, skill in survival, or even a lack of resources.

Both groups stopped, staring at each other. Ryder decided to take the initiative, holstering her handgun, and slowly walking towards the aliens, hands up in the air, comfortable in the knowledge that her biotics and her squad could bail her out if needed.

"I am Sara Ryder; Pathfinder for the Citadel Council, an intra-galactic government founded on the ideals of peace and unity amongst the various species that call this galaxy home. I have been tasked with exploring uncharted systems and facing the challenges of meeting new species of sentient life. We are not soldiers, but explorers who wish nothing more than to peacefully acquaint ourselves with you, and your species - to share our cultures, compare our technologies, and unravel the mysteries of the Milky Way together. I am of a species called 'human', but, as you can see, the Citadel welcomes all species who truly wish to coexist. The Citadel Council would like to extend this invitation to you."

Her speech finished, she waited for the creature's response. She had no hopes of her message being understood, but tone and body language usually carried over well between humanoid species, and, once the language barrier had been surpassed, the language she'd used would set a nice precedent for a potentially developing diplomatic relationship.

The lead creature took a step forth, then another, its comrades remaining behind. All too quickly, it closed the distance, heavy steps thudding until all eight-feet-something of it towered above her.

The creature spoke, the words perfectly clear to her despite the heavy distortion caused by the creature's armor's speakers. " _Hello, Sara Ryder. Pleasure to meet you_."

Liam whispered softly into the comm. " _What the_ shit _?_ "

Cora added to the shock. " _Was that English!?_ "

 _Not just English_ , Sara thought, _but English with an accent. And a pretty darn recognizable one, at that_.

The creature extended a massive, five-fingered hand, letting go of its weapon's stock. The customized visor lifted with a hiss, revealing a very friendly, very _human_ face. "James Raynor. Welcome to Halo, Pathfinder."

* * *

 **Beyond all the subjects I wish to tackle, and the story I legitimately want to tell, I started writing this fic simply to have moments like these. I'm not a religious person, but it's hard not to feel a little blessed (by the universe or whatever deity's favor I've somehow earned) that I'm able to just... _write_ this, y'know?**

 **I hope you enjoyed. First Contact part 2, coming up!**


	17. Chapter 16: Shocked, pt 2

For a solid minute, James Raynor's hand remained extended. The man's friendly expression never wavered, even as Sara could feel the nasty mixture of awkwardness and shock around her intensify. Her crew remained tense, fingers itching to depress the triggers on their mismatched weapons. The soldiers around the unknown man in the power armor remained still, seemingly completely relaxed, as if this _monumental_ encounter were something that happened to them on a daily basis.

Finally, she offered her own hand, which Raynor gingerly closed his massive gauntlet around. "You're... _human_." -she managed, her voice smaller than ever.

"Last I checked." -he replied easily, smirking. Raynor's visage was steeped in age, his hair more gray than black, the fairly well-kept beard around his face a similar story. His face was lined with wrinkles, and he bore scars - some she could plainly see, others that ran beneath the surface, that she could only recognize from seeing them on the faces of the most traumatized veterans of the Reaper War. Nevertheless, he seemed a pleasant man, if exhausted by life, not unlike her own late father.

That he was a man _at all_ was blowing her mind. Her thoughts immediately began to race, pondering the implications of this discovery. Human beings! Practically the size and build of a YMIR mech, but still! Their tech looked so far removed, it might as well have been another alien civilization, but Sara could see similarities, features on their armor, their postures...even the way they held their massive weapons! She could recognize her own species, and James Raynor and his escort _definitely_ belonged to it.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Sure you wanna keep that helmet on? Air's fine, and all that thinking just might smoke you out." -he said.

Sara blinked, letting go of the man's hand. " _Right_. Sorry, it's...protocol. Can't remove our gear until we've been through decontamination after First Contact with an alien species."

James nodded. "Got'cha."

Ryder shook her head, baffled. "That being _said_ , this situation is so far removed from what protocol was _intended_ for, that I might as well."

She reached for the seals on the back of her neck, releasing them. Instantly, a breath of the freshest air she'd ever inhaled rushed in. " _Wow_." -she whispered, as she put her helmet on the grass beneath her.

"It's artificial. The ring keeps it that way." -Raynor said, knowingly.

"What _else_ does it do?" -Sara asked.

Raynor winced. "Let's...table that _particular_ discussion for a lil' while. For now, let's just say it's built to preserve and support life."

Sara hummed, unsatisfied. "You...called it 'Halo'."

He nodded, the gesture barely visible inside his turtle shell-like head armor. "That I did. Beta Halo. _Technically_ , this is 'Installation 01', but _that's_ a mouthful, and the ring _is_ part of the Halo Array, anyway."

"You mean...there are _more_?" -Sara said, blanching.

"Six others. Supposedly. We've never gone far enough to find another."

"Who built them?"

"Aliens. We call 'em Forerunners. Been dead for well over a hundred thousand years."

Sara couldn't hide her disappointment, even as she began to draw a timeline in her head. "And they just... _left_ these Halos for us to find?"

Raynor snorted. "Not quite in so many words. The Array's well hidden. You'd need a map, or, lacking that, a fair bit of luck to find it."

"I...guess we've got the luck covered. Do _you_ have a map?" -Sara asked.

"Maybe so." -was all Raynor said.

Seeing he was closing off on that topic, Ryder moved on to her other burning questions. "Where did you come from?"

"Lil' world called Shiloh, myself. But I reckon you wanna know 'bout my kind, in general."

Sara nodded, impatiently, filing the name of Raynor's homeworld away for future questioning. "Well, us Terrans come from Earth. Never seen it, but they say it's a gorgeous blue marble, some twenty-thousand light years away."

The Pathfinder frowned. "Earth is _not_ that close by. We're practically on the other side of the galaxy from it." -Cora pointed out, the first of her team to make any sound since their introduction.

Raynor thought for a moment, then scoffed, amused. "I _thought_ y'all looked a little different from those UED folks. Runnin' with aliens should've been my first clue." -he said, to which some of his escort laughed. "Let's just say I ain't _exactly_ all that surprised. Y'see, these Forerunner folks had a sort of... _vested_ _interest_ in us humans. I'm sure you're aware, the galaxy's chock-full of dangers, and they wanted to keep us alive. I'm not quite sure how we ended up calling both our homeworlds the same thing, or why we evolved to look much the same way in the past one-hundred-K years, but what we _do_ know is that the Forerunners were _thorough_...and they _loved_ their damn failsafes." -Raynor said, shrugging.

Sara shook her head, baffled. " _How_ is this not a bigger shock for you? Humanity, evolving on _two_ different homeworlds thanks to the influence of aliens so _advanced_ they built this place!? This is the scientific find of the century! It's bigger than discovering the Mass Effect!"

James sighed. " _Look._ Ryder, right? I've seen a _lot_ in my days. I know you're new to our lil' backwater in space, but I can promise you this: spend a while in Koprulu, and between the Protoss and the Swarm, nothing'll ever surprise you again. Honestly, meeting other humans is a welcome change. Don't much care where you come from."

Sara frowned in frustration. " _Protoss_? The Swarm? Have you met the Rachni, too?"

"Nope. Unless we call your Rachni 'Zerg', but you're _alive_ , and not runnin' for your lives, so I'm guessing we aren't talkin' about the same bugs."

"And the Protoss?"

Raynor pointed his thumb back towards the odd, floating construct. "Gauging your reaction to us. First Contact's never been the best 'round these parts. Can't blame 'em for being cautious for a change."

As the man ended his sentence, three pillars of light formed beneath the spinning construct, swiftly coalescing into _very_ tall, lanky forms. Unlike the 'terrans', these _Protoss_ gave off a decidedly _alien_ vibe, one she could feel the moment their bodies solidified.

And then came the whispers.

Sara had never come close to any Reapers, and thus her knowledge of Indoctrination was purely second-hand. What she knew was as hazy as it was described to be - it started with odd dreams, perhaps a small hallucination - easily explained away as a trick of the light, or the result of exhaustion - growing, in time, into whispers in your head, slowly but surely convincing you that to resist the Reapers was futile, that joining them instead might be the better choice in the long run. They promised salvation, for you and anyone else you might convince of the 'truth'. Eventually, these whispers turned from mere suggestion, to outright _orders_ , ones you would find yourself unable to refuse. Thousands of Indoctrinated men and women still lived in Council space, their corruptors dead, but their minds irrevocably changed. Not much could be done - _extensive_ therapy and invasive surgery were about the only things that might give the victims of Reaper Indoctrination a chance at a somewhat normal life

Judging by her and her comrades' current state, grasping at their heads and raising their weapons, she was not alone in feeling like she was experiencing something akin to that. Images seared into her brain, thoughts not her own - pictures of humans, of those _Protoss_ , of alien worlds and never-ending monsters, of death, chaos, and rebuilding, all at once. Sara felt like someone were sticking an Omni-blade inside her brain.

Sara instinctively pushed the 'attackers' away, the motion triggering her biotics and sending a powerful wave of force towards the aliens, who all stumbled, some kind of shielding flaring to protect them from the worst of it. Raynor, who was also caught in the wake, visibly struggled to remain upright, seemingly lacking any kind of shielding but for his heavy armor.

Realizing what she'd done, even as she winced in pain, she inwardly cursed, extending her hands around her. As Pathfinder, her natural biotics had taken a _significant_ upgrade, and so, to avoid further hostilities, she generated a dome shield around her crew, which seemed to dampen the 'whispering' somewhat. " _Stop that!_ " -she shouted.

Raynor, who'd recovered from the biotic attack, scowled. "I _forgot_ about the damned psionics." -he muttered, then turned to the alien in the lead, whose posture had turned somewhat aggressive, if confused. "Selendis, they aren't wearin' any dampeners. _Tone it down_."

Immediately, the thought storm ceased. The terrans put their weapons down, as a gesture of peace. Sara tentatively lowered the shield, but didn't order her team to lower their weapons. "Explain this. _Now_." -she demanded.

James winced. "It's my own damn fault. The Protoss speak with their minds; they're used to communicating with thoughts, images and feelings."

"You mean they're _telepaths_?" -Sara said, incredulous.

Raynor nodded. "Like I said, this Sector has a _way_ with curing you of shock. Most terrans have gotten used to Protoss speech, but some of us have to wear or get some kind of hardware installed to hold any kind of conversation with them. Psionic dampeners, and the like."

The lead alien bowed their head. " _I...apologize. This...form of speech is...archaic. Incomplete. We...do not wish...to fight._ " -the Protoss, Selendis, said. Its voice seemed female, but more than that, it had a unique _echo_ , that not even a Turian's flanged tones could reach.

Sara winced, still getting used to the mild stab of pain Selendis' inaudible words caused. "Apology...accepted."

The Protoss bowed her head. " _I...am Selendis...High Executor of the_ Daelaam _...and leader of the Templar…_ " -she said.

Ryder panted a bit, walking forward and extending her hand. "Sara Ryder. Pathfinder for the Citadel Council."

Selendis grasped her gloved hand with an uncovered one - one thumb, four fingers total, all impressively clawed. Their greeting allowed Sara to truly examine this new species: the Protoss were, perhaps, the most visually interesting race to date; the first thing Sara noticed was their height. They were _incredibly_ tall - Selendis towered over Sara's admittedly short form, and even had a head on Raynor. She was easily more than nine feet tall, maybe a couple of inches beyond that. Their faces were devoid of _any_ of the features prevalent in the known races of the galaxy - they seemed to have no noses, no mouths, no ears. Their brows were bare, like those of an Asari, and their eyes were aglow, shining brighter than a Quarian's. What their visage lacked in visual identifiers, however, they more than made up for in decoration; a golden metal hugged the High Executor's face, making a sort of crown that also served to encompass her thin face. The 'crown' itself was accented by two cyan crystals, reminiscent of the one on their transport, also glowing.

As for their bodies, the Protoss had an _odd_ fashion sense - heavy armor, all golden, accented with those same cyan crystals, that only covered the bare, humanoid necessities - chest, pauldrons, forearms, and greaves. Selendis had an elegant loincloth, which her fellow, even heavier armored Protoss lacked, wearing some kind of dark gray undersuit instead. Their legs were digitigrade, and ended with two toes, like a Turian's foot. Protoss skin seemed a grayish blue hue, their eyes an icy, utterly penetrating cyan. The escorts had helmets on, and held long, golden poles on their hands - lances, maybe, but they didn't seem to end in much of a deadly point.

"En Taro _Adun, Sara Ryder. The_ Daelaam _welcome...your peaceful intent._ " -Selendis said, bowing, this time doubling over

" _Daelaam_. Is that your government?" -Sara asked, testing the foreign word.

" _Indeed_."

"What does the word mean?"

" _Stewards...guardians, united...behind a single purpose._ "

"The Protoss are the most technologically advanced race in the galaxy, to the best of our knowledge. They see themselves as our protectors." -Raynor said.

Sara nodded. "What you did to exit your transport, was it teleportation?"

" _In a sense_."

"That back there is a Warp Prism. It can translate matter into energy, store it in data form, and recreate it in an instant." -Raynor said, as if describing the weather, and not a phenomenon that broke most established laws of physics.

" _I am...no Phase-smith...but you are...welcome to ask…_ " -she said, then gave a mental groan, looking at Raynor, who sighed, in turn.

"What happened?" -Sara asked.

Raynor pursed his lips. "Selendis _wants_ to talk to you, but her speech is severely limited. It'll give you a headache, but she wants to chat in the usual manner. Slowly, this time."

Sara pondered this. "And this is safe?"

"No more dangerous than taking off your helmet, Pathfinder."

Sara sighed. "Alright. But can you do it just for me? I don't want my whole team disabled if something goes wrong."

Selendis bowed in what she assumed was agreement. And then, she _talked_.

This time, the images went by much slower, and the thoughts and feelings that complemented them actually served to alleviate the stabbing pain, albeit transmitting much more information at once. Selendis wove a beautiful tale, of the rise and fall of Protoss civilization - a tribal species, uplifted by 'gods', then left to rot and war amongst themselves, until a great hero, by the name of Khas, had united the Protoss by showing his people a way in which their minds, identities, their very _beings_ could meld completely: the _Khala_. However, this union was so complete that it tended to blur the lines between identities, disallowing for the privacy of thought to be preserved. Some Protoss chose to walk a different path, mutilating themselves and being shunned by ancient Protoss society. Then, they would create AI, but in mistreating it, nearly suffered a fate similar to that of the Quarians.

All of this resulted in a broken, incomplete civilization, which failed to defend itself against the Zerg Swarm - and Sara felt real terror, seeing in that particular memory the endless mass of claws, teeth, and spikes destroy Selendis' homeworld, as experienced by the High Executor herself - and which seemed doomed to extinction. In the end, it took a modern hero to unite all of the disparage Protoss factions - Templar, _Nerazim_ , Purifier, and _Tal'darim_ \- in an effort to save their species from oblivion, a process they were still in the middle of.

Sara didn't realize she'd been crying, or even kneeling. She refocused on the darkened crystal of Cora's visor. " _Ryder!_ Jesus, are you ok? Your brain activity just went off the charts!"

Ryder blinked. "I'm... _better_ than ok, actually. You _have_ to try this. The High Executor pretty much just told me the entirety of Protoss history."

Peebee scoffed. "In _thirty seconds_?"

She nodded, sensing amusement, pride, and satisfaction from the Executor. " _And now, you hear my true voice, Pathfinder Ryder_." -Selendis noted, but she did not do so with mere _words_ , instead crafting a complete idea out of Ryder's own experiences, feelings, and ideas, and complementing them with Selendis'. It was, simply put, the most perfect way of communicating she had ever experienced. In a matter of seconds, Sara had come to understand Selendis' entire character - her motivations, her attitude towards Ryder and her crew, and her hopes for the future of the Protoss race.

"I do." -Sara whispered, awed.

" _And you know what comes next_."

Ryder nodded, hurriedly bringing up her Omni-tool, which caused interest from the Terrans. "This is the Pathfinder. Whatever happens in the next thirty seconds, _don't panic_. It's friendly alien technology doing its job."

Raynor raised an amused eyebrow, while her crew walked up to her. "What the hell is _that_ about?" -Vetra asked.

"The Executor wants to show us around." -Sara said, excited as could be.

"Around _where_?"

Before Sara could answer, a truly _massive_ blue energy field enveloped them, the aliens, their vehicles, and even the _Tempest_.

"What's happening!?" -Liam asked, panicked.

"It's ok!" -Sara shouted gleefully, as she felt herself _unravel_. "It's called a mass-"

* * *

 **This chapter was heavily inspired by Christie Golden's Dark Templar saga, and how the Protoss race is described by the various Terrans that meet them. You should _really_ consider reading that for an in depth look at the Firstborn.**

 **Until next time!**


	18. Chapter 17: Reunited

**Sorry for the longer break between updates! I'm back to school and that's gonna make things slower for a while.**

* * *

 _ **Protoss Mothership**_ **"Shield of Aiur"**

 _ **In orbit of Forerunner Installation 01 (Beta Halo), Unnamed system, Koprulu Sector**_

"-recall!" -she finished, her brain momentarily confused as it tried to process the fact that she had just _teleported_.

Sara looked around, awed. Above her, a dull blue dome with a distinct, hexagonal pattern filtered her view of space, the curvature of Halo, and the gas giant it orbited. The air felt artificial, like one would expect inside of a starship, and the floor beneath her was a blue, crystalline matrix, its glow slowly subsiding. Sara knelt, grabbing her helmet, which had, of course, come with her.

"What the _fuck_ just happened?" -Cora demanded of her, M8 Avenger trained on the High Executor, who seemed, if anything, amused.

Sara breathed. "Like I said: mass recall. It's how the Protoss typically evacuate their planetside assets." -Sara said, looking at her reflection in the opaque visor and seeing only amazement.

Ryder's comm crackled. " _Tempest to Pathfinder: Would you_ care _to explain how we just travelled almost ten thousand kilometers in an unquantifiably small amount of time?_ " -said Suvi, breathless.

Sara shook her head. "Honestly? It's beyond me."

Suvi sighed. " _Right...just, try to warn us a little more than ten seconds ahead next time, yeah? Kallo just about opened fire._ "

Selendis knelt, so that her huge, alien eyes levelled with Sara's. Smugness, humor, and generosity colored her thoughts. " _As I meant to say earlier: the Hierarchy's Phase-smiths would be more than willing to explain to an earnest mind._ "

"Where are we?" -Sara asked.

She gestured at the golden and blue structures around them, which to Sara looked almost like a city's skyline. " _The_ Shield of Aiur _. Former flagship of the_ Daelaam's _fleet, now attached to Commander Raynor's diplomatic taskforce. I have commandeered it for the duration of this mission._ "

Raynor pitched in. "I'm sure you caught our little... _joint operation_. The High Executor here volunteered to oversee the preparations necessary to make Halo a safe place for Terrans and Protoss to study, and eventually, colonize."

"The colonization efforts of your diplomatic fleet include _orbital bombardment_?" -Vetra asked, sarcastic, though her tone also conveyed a small amount of fear.

Raynor winced. "Darlin', your tongue sounds nice, but I don't exactly speak it."

Selendis narrowed her eyes in humor. " _I can translate the Turian's words for you, James Raynor._ "

Sara wanted to smack herself. In her shock at the Terrans' appearance, and the Protoss' lack of need for translators, she'd forgotten that Vetra, Drack, and Peebee were, obviously, _aliens_ , and thus wouldn't be understood at _all_ by the foreign humans.

"I'd like you to speak freely with _all_ of us, Selendis." -Sara said.

Drack grumbled. "You sure about that, Ryder?"

Sara nodded. "I don't want you guys out of the loop. And really, Protoss speech is a pretty fantastic experience. Like Turian tones on steroids. And, y'know, inside your mind."

Wait. "Speaking of...how do you know about Turians?" -Sara asked the Protoss.

" _Recent events have made us..._ aware _of your galactic civilization._ " -Selendis replied, cryptic.

"As for your question," -said Raynor, once he understood, "the Koprulu Sector _ain't_ your Council Space, or even those you call the Terminus Systems. Our worlds need a good cleansin' more often than not. Especially this one; Halo may've been _conditioned_ to keep us alive, but it wasn't exactly _built_ for the comfort of organics."

Sara cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Selendis sneered in contempt. " _The Halo Array is a dormant superweapon. A last resort measure intended to eradicate a parasitic, extragalactic lifeform known to the Xel'Naga as 'the Flood'_."

The term piqued Sara's curiosity even as her gut filled with dread. " _Xel'Naga_...the Protoss' 'gods'?"

"Same guys as the Forerunners. Mostly" -Raynor clarified.

"And this 'Flood'?"

Raynor's usually confident expression turned slightly nervous. "They're these little... _fungus_ _monsters_ that revive dead bodies to fight in an instant. They'll kill and infect you, and before you fall to the ground, you're attackin' the men you fought beside seconds before."

Selendis' thoughts were tinged with disgust, hatred, and vivid images of a hundred rotting human cadavers rising, shrieking, and leaping to attack. These were not Selendis' own memories, Sara noted, nor that of another Protoss. " _Below us lie the carbonized ruins of this Installation's Library, a fortress cataloguing all sentient species in the galaxy -_ including _samples of the Flood. Why the Forerunners thought this an adequate decision, I cannot fathom._ "

"We're _real_ lucky we got here before you did." -Raynor said. "Not to say y'all _would,_ but a crew of eager explorers might've unwittingly released the ugly bastards. Happened before, on a Forerunner ruin we found, but we caught it early. Otherwise we'd have a problem the size of the Swarm, and not _nearly_ as reasonable. Which is sayin' a lot."

" _Loathe as I am to admit it...I am not certain even the full might of the_ Daelaam _would be able to contain such an infestation_." -Selendis said, then gave a mental shrug. " _Without reducing this system to sub-atomic particles as well, at any rate._ "

Sara pondered the implications of that statement. "You can _teleport_ entire fleets and armies, and apparently destroy _entire_ star systems; if you couldn't stop this 'Flood', how would Halo do it?"

Selendis scoffed. " _By eradicating all sentient life within three galactic radii of the Milky Way's core._ "

Raynor nodded, somber. "Anything with a big enough brain dies. Starves the Flood to death, eventually."

Sara's eyes widened. "Christ...that's trillions dead."

" _More than that._ All _of us, potential sustenance for the Flood. I do not begrudge the Xel'Naga their ultimate plan, but I would not wish to see it reenacted. And so, we purge Halo of any potential infection vectors._ " -Selendis explained.

"Reenacted? You mean the Array's already been activated." -Sara surmised.

"Once. Like I said: the Forerunners've been dead for a _long_ time." -Raynor nodded.

"A hundred-thousand years ago, right? That's... _incredible_. About early pre-historic Prothean times." -Peebee muttered.

"Kinda makes you wonder what they'd be doing _now_ if they hadn't committed mass suicide." -Raynor said.

Cora crossed her arms. "So, assuming we believe Halo can selectively wipe out sentient life...why the _hell_ is that ring still spinning?"

Selendis shot her a _look_. " _This Installation is but one part of the Array. To permanently rid the galaxy of that looming danger, we would need to destroy the other six rings, as well._ "

"So? You guys know where they are, right?"

Raynor sighed. "We know where they _were_. Back when the Array was fired. It took us the better part of the last _four years_ to find Beta Halo, after it'd been tossed 'round the Sector by a star that went nova in its original system."

" _Our 'maps' are intended to find sentient species,_ not _the Array. The only reason we found this Installation is because they are updated in real time, and we traced a part of the data received here_." -Selendis added.

Raynor snorted. "That _alone_ took a year and a half. Forerunner tech's a tough nut to crack."

Sara frowned. "But wouldn't the seven Halos need to communicate between themselves? I imagine they'd activate simultaneously for maximum effectiveness."

"Like I said, the Forerunners _loved_ their failsafes. To find 'em from here, we'd need to actually light the rings." -Raynor said.

Ryder sighed, her train of thought halted. "Alright. So, what do we do?"

Raynor chuckled. "About Halo? Not much. We're done with the bombardment. As for diplomacy, I'd say that's up to you, Pathfinder. You found us."

"But this is your territory; you get final say on what happens next." -Sara argued.

" _Halo is beyond our borders. This system is an unclaimed part of the Sector. Perhaps this ring could serve as a neutral meeting ground between our diplomats?_ " -Selendis suggested.

Drack snorted. "A diplomatic meeting on a galaxy-ending superweapon? The Krogan are gonna _love_ you, Protoss."

Sara chuckled. "That's a good next step. As long as those Flood things are all gone, obviously."

Selendis and Raynor exchanged a _look_. "Protoss Mothership like this one raining fire on 'em? Trust me, Ryder. Best cure for an infestation out there, short of blowing up the ring. They're _gone_."

* * *

 _ **Systems Alliance Stealth Vessel**_ **"Normandy SR2"**

 ** _In FTL transit towards Arcturus System, Arcturus Stream cluster_**

John supposed he could appreciate the _Normandy's_ aesthetic, but he still found it utterly alien. The clean, curving lines and cool, bright colors were so utterly different from the blocky, stalwart, and simply dark look of UNSC technology that he couldn't fathom how the ship could've been designed by humans.

Then again, it apparently held some Turian influence, so maybe the alien look was purposeful. At least Commander Shepard had thought to give him a 'room' away from everyone else in the relatively small vessel. Cortana and himself had set up in Life Support; John thought that spoke volumes of how much the Commander already trusted him.

In any case, it gave him time to catch up.

"You look...different." -John said.

Cortana hummed, amused, showing off her new design on a portable holographic display the Geth had cobbled together for them. "Y'know, I've seen the file; your augmentations changed your look _quite_ a bit, too."

John grunted, examining the crack on his helmet's visor. "So they...augmented you?"

The AI's hologram looked as human as ever, sure, but she now boasted an armored look, a silver, form-fitting suit that covered - or rather, _protected_ \- her previously unclothed blue form. "You could say that." -she said, humorous; however her expression turned serious. "I did the math, Chief. It's the year 2591 for us. We drifted for _thirty-eight_ years. Going into stand-by for all that time took everything I had. As of now, I'm rampant."

John immediately straightened. "How bad is it?"

Cortana pursed her virtual lips. "Honestly? Not great. Smart AI like myself are supposed to last about seven years: fending off the Gravemind and absorbing all of Alpha Halo's data _definitely_ didn't help my case. I was already falling, before our escape on the _Dawn_." -she admitted, then flared the 'circuitry' on her new armor. "For now, I feel just fine. The Geth have created a sort of neural network around me, helping me off-load less important processes and focus on keeping myself sane. They're taking the edge off, so to speak, but I'm maybe at 21% of my original specs."

"I take it that's not a permanent solution."

The AI shook her head, melancholic. "At best, they've bought me another seven months."

John frowned. "They're a race of AI. How have they survived without curing rampancy?"

"The Geth aren't like me, John. They were never based on a human mind, or even a Quarian's. Their brains were designed and built from scratch. Where I'm designed to function autonomously at peak performance, their strength lies in cooperation. Every one of those robotic platforms you saw houses a multitude of individual Geth programs, all of them equally as intelligent. They never think themselves to _death_ because there's always another Geth helping them process data."

"And the 'Systems Alliance' Commander Shepard mentioned? Could they help?"

Cortana scowled. "Just because they're human doesn't mean they're _our_ humans. I don't really trust them yet - _definitely_ not enough to just hand myself over. I'm surprised _you_ do."

"I have a good feeling about them."

"And that's usually _fine_ , but _I_ have logic. We're two extremely advanced pieces of tech for them. I wouldn't be surprised if they try and treat us as their property because you share DNA."

The Spartan shook his head. "I won't let that happen."

"I don't know that we'll have a choice, Chief. We're alone out here. Your armor's broken and I'm in the middle of rampancy." -she said, looking away.

John grit his teeth. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

Cortana remained silent for a moment, after which she turned, offering him a slight smile. "Well, _yeah_. Not like you'd last long without me."

The Spartan scoffed, amused. "I could manage for a while."

She rolled her eyes. "In this new, alien-filled society? The Geth and I have a bet going: I give you a week before you kill one of the new ones. _Their_ consensus is that you _might_ last two."

" _Not_ funny." -John retorted. "Speaking of Geth…"

"I didn't tell them anything classified, if that's what you're worried about." -she said, crossing her arms.

"It's not that. I want to know more about them. And the Quarians...and the Asari…"

"Blue girls keeping you up at night?" -Cortana asked, barely keeping the laughter out of her tone.

"They're...problematic."

She gave him a wink. "The Geth gave me something called a 'Codex'. Basically a First Contact package. It's _very_ interesting, if a little barebones, for my taste."

"And?"

"Well, my first thought was that maybe we were looking at some of your distant cousins. A little Forerunner influence here and there, and voilá! Blue, hairless humans."

"Sounds reasonable. They liked to meddle."

"Except they _didn't_. They're completely different organisms. They only _look_ like humans; you share more common genetic sequences with the _Quarians_ , and _they're_ based on an entirely different set of proteins."

"Like the Hunters back home." -John surmised.

Cortana nodded. "Dextro-aminoacids."

John, as ever, thought of the potential combat benefits. "Think they're immune to the Flood, too?"

"With any luck, we'll never have to find out." -she muttered. "Either way, these new species are interesting, but the kicker? This _entire_ galactic society _revolves_ around their ability to alter _mass_."

Chief racked his memory, thinking back to his days being taught by Déjà on Reach. "That's not possible."

"Not where we come from, no. But these guys spit in the face of the Law of Conservation of Matter. They've discovered an element that, when exposed to a positive or negative charge, can increase or reduce the mass in a field around itself. They call it the 'mass effect'."

"Catchy."

"More than that, it has a _ton_ of potential applications. FTL tech, changing density, altering gravity itself! No wonder they're so different from us. Some of the things they can do almost seem like magic."

"What should I expect? Assuming you lose your bet with the Geth."

Cortana snorted. "I don't know where to start...no, wait, I _do_ : inverted gravity fields under your feet, enemies who reduce their mass to practically nothing and move so fast they appear to teleport, _tiny black holes_."

"...I thought they didn't look like much."

"Not against a Spartan, maybe, but I wouldn't get overconfident if I were you. Especially with your MJOLNIR in that state."

Cortana's hologram blinked. "Commander Shepard's at the door."

Chief paused, then donned his helmet again. "Let her in."

He rose, as the door to the room opened behind him and Cortana's avatar vanished. In walked Commander Shepard, clad in a sleeveless navy top, black workout pants, and a pair of combat boots. She held a small bundle of items in her hands - one of them artificial. John was no stranger to grafted cybernetics, but the damage Commander Shepard had suffered seemed extreme. Her entire right arm was a white and black prosthetic, her right eye was clearly artificial, and the way she ever so slightly favored her left leg betrayed yet another replacement body part. John wondered what could've destroyed the right side of her body so thoroughly, and how she'd hidden her prosthetics so well under her seemingly flimsy armor.

"Master Chief." -she greeted, coolly.

"Commander." -he responded in kind.

"How's the _Normandy_ been treating you?"

"Well enough. Small, for a frigate."

She nodded. "I can see how you'd think that. The _Forward Unto Dawn_ was, what, twice the size?"

"And thrice the crew."

"The _Normandy's_ always had a small crew. Even smaller nowadays, with an AI at its heart."

Chief nodded, knowing well the benefits of an AI's partnership. "EDI?"

Shepard hummed in agreement. "She's pretty amazing. I'm sure Cortana is, too."

John knew coaxing when he heard it. "She is. Doesn't trust you yet."

"I guess I'll have earn _her_ trust, too. In that vein, here, a bribe." -she said, handing him the bundle. "It's an Omni-tool, some clothes, and a couple of shield generators. And some MREs, since I have no clue how often you need to eat, and I don't see you joining us in the mess anytime soon."

The Chief examined the offered items. The Omni-tool was fairly easy to identify, being a bright orange disk with a sort of 'spine' attached to it, lined with tiny, fluid filled cartridges, going on for about the length of his arm. "The Omni-tool is designed to interface with pretty much every kind of armor out there, human or otherwise. I'd advise you to link it up with your armor's on-board systems for maximum effectiveness. It's one of my personalized spares, so don't worry about keeping it."

John looked at it dubiously, which caused Shepard to laugh. "It won't bite. And I promise it has no spyware on it or anything." -she said. "Seriously, though, it's kind of impossible to live in Council space without one of these. Everything from doors to starship firing controls will probably need an Omni-tool to be interacted with."

"Sounds like a dangerous flaw. Easy to exploit en masse."

"Sure, from an outsider's perspective. But Omni-tools are pretty rugged, and easy to replace. If an Omni-tool gets hacked, you just throw it away. It's why you get spares."

"What about the shields?" -he asked.

"Kinetic damage only. Aside from point-defense weapons, energy weapons are not employed in Council space. Before you ask, Cortana talks in her sleep. I know your Covenant used DEWs."

John resisted the urge to snort. Shepard smirked like he'd seen through the broken visor. "Those used to belong to a Krogan friend of mine. Seemed a right fit for someone your size, but you might need to calibrate them first."

"I assume Krogans are aliens?"

Jane nodded. "Yup. Huge, reptilian ones. They're as tough as a tank, and like to blast things to pieces with massive shotguns. I kind of adopted one."

"You're a mother?" -John asked, surprised.

She laughed. "Yes, but not a Krogan's. I love Grunt, but he's his own man." -she said, then brought up her Omni-tool, displaying an image of a small human girl sitting on the shoulders of a tall, raptor-like alien, both sporting the same blue markings on Shepard's face. "Talia Shepard-Vakarian. And Garrus, my bond-mate."

John tried to ignore the inkling of discomfort he felt at seeing an alien with a human child. "You adopted her." -he surmised, as they looked nothing alike...and her 'father' was a Turian.

Shepard's eyes turned melancholic. "I did. She's from a small colony called Bekenstein, fairly close to the Widow system, where the Citadel is located. It was almost entirely destroyed by the Reapers, bombed from orbit during the war. Talia lost her parents then. We never found their bodies, but she survived pretty miraculously unscathed."

"How old is she?"

"She's about to turn eleven, in about a month."

John did some quick mental math. "Six when she became an orphan."

Shepard nodded. "She's tough. Survived for a full three weeks before she was rescued."

"Never wise to underestimate children."

"True enough." -Jane said.

"Six is...how old I was. When I started the process of becoming a Spartan." -John said.

Shepard winced. "That's...very young."

John shrugged. "Maybe. It was necessary."

"I don't know that I could agree with that."

"The augmentation process wouldn't have worked otherwise."

Jane crossed her arms. "I don't doubt it. Still doesn't make it right. It sounds an awful lot like you were robbed of your childhood. Maybe even your life."

John straightened. "We were meant to protect Earth and all her colonies. Age never factored into that. We had the potential talent, and we were selected. I served proudly."

"Were you given a choice?"

The Spartan paused. Shepard nodded. "I thought not." -she said, turning away. "If Cortana's willing to listen anytime soon, I have a proposal for her. Anything you need, let me know. Omni-tool's already filled with important contacts and data."

With that said, the Commander left Life Support. Cortana winked back into existence, looking at John. "What?" -the Spartan asked, somewhat sullen.

She snorted. "You were right. She's _good_."

* * *

 **Not everything is as simple as it appears to be. S'all I'll say. Until next time!**


	19. Chapter 18: Stacked

_**Systems Alliance SEV**_ " **Tempest"**

 _ **(Inside Protoss Mothership**_ " **Shield of Aiur"** _ **)**_

 _ **In orbit over Forerunner Installation 01, Unnamed system, Koprulu Sector**_

The _Tempest's_ crew stared at the hologram in front of them, depicting a 3D scan of High Executor Selendis that SAM had managed to surreptitiously obtain during the brief altercation with the Protoss and Terrans.

"So, what do we know?" -Sara asked, hands on the holotable.

Cora snorted. "Torn between 'not a lot' and ' _way_ too much', thanks to the Executor. Protoss reproductive habits are trivia I could've _happily_ lived without."

" _Though my analysis was far from complete, I have been able to piece together important facts regarding the civilizations we have encountered._ " -SAM said, morphing the hologram's pose to more accurately analyze the subject. " _For example,_ _Protoss physiology is deceptively simple. There appear to be few major internal organs; instead, their biology relies on dermal level conversion of energy obtained from photons._ "

A predictive model of the process appeared. "The process is quite similar to photosynthesis, only _way_ more streamlined. There's no waste at all, and it doesn't require any more than light and water. Any energy they don't use, they store for later use _inside_ their muscles. There's no blood, no lungs, no heart...only a brain and nervous system, and then the energy transfer is direct." -Suvi said, practically gushing.

"Wait, so they're basically walking, telepathic plants?" -Ryder asked, frowning.

" _That analogy is severely lacking...though not entirely inaccurate. I do not yet comprehend how Protoss psionics fit into the picture._ "

"Straight out of sci-fi, yeah. Did the Executor give you guys the whole history lesson, too?" -Sara asked.

The away team nodded. Drack grumbled. "Didn't exactly appreciate the mind probe, Ryder. Last time anyone spoke in my head I was fighting _under_ a Reaper, hump to hump with the Overlord."

"It _was_ kinda necessary, though. We got past the language barrier in record time." -Peebee pointed out.

"Don't care. Fuck off my brain."

"I'm surprised, Drack; I would've thought you'd be more sympathetic towards the Protoss. Got screwed by the aliens who uplifted them, just like the Krogan." -Cora said.

The ancient reptilian glanced at Kallo, who merely focused on the hologram. "I _know_. I was _there_. Doesn't change a thing."

Vetra hummed. "I'm kind of with Drack on this one. Lots of issues to be had with a species that can _think_ you to death. The Terrans, I'm fine with; they have guns, I can dodge their bullets. Telepathy? Not so much."

"You saw the memories, though. It's also a species that values, control, discipline, and honor above almost everything else." -Sara retorted.

"So does mine, and you'll still find more than a few barefaced Turians out there. Honorable though the High Executor may be, an individual is not their species."

Sara nodded, conceding the point. "I think we should approach this with a healthy dose of cautious optimism. They're extremely advanced and willing to share; it's better than we could've hoped for in First Contact."

"Two words: _energy weapons_." -said Liam, excited. "Plasma shields, teleportation...I don't know what you're all on about. This is gonna be _great_."

Most everyone rolled their eyes at the brit's extreme optimism. "So...Halo." -Sara said, a morbid silence settling in the meeting room.

The ring world replaced the Executor, lazily spinning near the gas giant. "SAM, can we verify Selendis' claim? Is this ring actually a superweapon?"

" _I have insufficient data. I require access to the Protoss and Terran databases regarding Installation 01. Perhaps we should also explore the ring, now that it has been 'sanitized'_."

"The Flood?"

" _No data available._ "

Sara crossed her arms. "I'll ask Raynor if we can work something out. I just don't know what I'll put in my report to Pathfinder Command; ' _Send diplomats. Trying to avoid ending all life in the galaxy'_."

"Probably best to hold off on that intel, Pathfinder." -Cora said.

"Then again, I don't know that surprising the Council with that little tidbit would be beneficial." -Vetra pointed out.

Sara sighed. "I think I'll leave it up to Commander Shepard. She's got more experience wrangling the Council. Let's focus on building bridges with the _Daelaam_ and the Terrans; we need information, and we need it _pronto_. Drack, Vetra, Cora: find Commander Raynor, hound him for answers. See how the Terrans react to new aliens, if they know anything else about this whole 'separate humanities' conspiracy. Suvi, Kallo, Gil: I want you to analyze everything we know so far. Attach a report to my message to Command. Peebee, Liam, you're with me; we're going to get to know the _Daelaam_."

Cora snapped a salute, as her second-in-command, leading her away team off the _Tempest_ , followed shortly by Sara and her own team. Suvi and Kallo got right to work, poring over, terabytes of data, waiting on Gil to come up from engineering to get into the nitty-gritty of Protoss and Terran technology.

Yet _none of them_ , not the _Tempest's_ crew, the ship's systems, or even SAM himself, noticed an etched circle symbol flash on the hologram for a picosecond.

* * *

 _Subject:_ _ **KOPRULU**_ _; Artifact FI01-BH_

 _Admiral Tiran Kandros, Director of the Pathfinder Initiative;_

 _Commander Jane Shepard, Head of Council SPECTRE Operations;_

 _ **FOR YOUR EYES ONLY**_

 _This is Pathfinder Sara Ryder. My team and I have found new intelligent life._

 _By the authority granted in me by the Pathfinder Initiative, the Special Tactics and ReConnaissance division of the Council Armed Forces, and the Citadel Council itself, I declare_ _ **FIRST CONTACT Protocol**_ _enacted throughout Council space, effective as of May 13th, 2191._

 _Recommend patrol fleets update their alert level to_ _ **BETA**_ _. Homeworld and colony defenses should update to alert level_ _ **GAMMA**_ _. The Citadel Defense Fleet must update to alert level_ _ **ALPHA**_ _._

 _We have found what appears to be an alliance of at least two_ _ **extremely**_ _advanced civilizations. Details sent under triple AI encryption. Hostilities_ _ **ARE NOT**_ _advised. I am requesting a sizable diplomatic party be sent to the attached coordinates. I am also ordering a scientific commission be created for_ _ **joint**_ _study of artifact FI01-BH._

 _P.D.: Send people with an open mind._

* * *

 _ **Covenant**_ **CAS-** _ **class Assault Carrier**_ " **Song of Retribution"**

 _ **Fleet of Fervent Atonement, Napret System**_

Silence reigned on the bridge of his flagship.

Jul 'Mdama almost couldn't believe his eyes. For almost forty cycles they had wandered, looking for signs of the gods their lost brothers had so _callously_ denied. He knew the temptation, of course - all who came in contact with the Forerunners' relics did - and could not bring himself to begrudge their alliance with the false ones, usurpers of their gods' legacy. But he and his followers had remained steadfast, loyal in their beliefs. At long last, their faith had been rewarded.

"An Oracle calls for aid… _our_ aid." -he said, softly, addressing the crew. "The gods truly are merciful. _We_ , who have remained on the Path, who have survived the _lies_ of the Prophets, the _treason_ of Tartarus, the _scorn_ of the Arbiter, the _Parasite_ itself... _we_ , who have only become stronger in our exile, who have brought the children of Sarhesen to accept the light of the Forerunners! _We_ have been granted a chance!"

The bridge lighting, subdued until then, grew vivid to show the Holy Ring. " _Halo_...we have found another, at long last!"

The crew all but knelt, humming in reverence. Jul knew in his hearts that the scene was repeated throughout the entire fleet. He could practically _feel_ the fervor - the collective faith of billions of souls, treading the path their ancestors had walked, before the Prophets' corruption. Jul had done much for his people in his rather short life, but the roaming Storm was beyond what any other Sangheili had achieved in generations. Through countless sacrifices, he had managed to preserve the sanctity of the Covenant.

He turned to his officers. "Let us waste no more time. Make preparations; the Storm moves on this... _Koprulu_ Sector."

His navigation officer blinked, in shock. "The entire fleet, Leader?"

Jul grinned in joy. "Are we not _all_ Covenant? We follow the Path, brothers and sisters. Let _none_ stand in our way."

The _Song of Retribution_ lurched, then, turning in unison with a thousand warships, all venturing into the unknown. A daring task, he supposed - if only for the faithless.

* * *

 _ **UNSC**_ **Infinity** _ **-class Super-Dreadnought**_ " **Infinity"**

 _ **Classified location**_

Thel 'Vadam felt, as always, the slightest bit of melancholy, roaming the wide halls of _Infinity_. A product of human design, Covenant technology, and top-secret Forerunner upgrades, the massive vessel would've been, in another life perhaps, a shining jewel of cooperation between his people and humanity, a beacon of hope, a landmark of what they could achieve together in the aftermath of the Great War.

Were it so simple.

A pair of Myrmidons scanned him before allowing entry into the warship's inner sanctum, a sealed room where the leaders of their alliance seldom met to discuss the future of their peoples. The synthetics lowered their weapons, and the heavy blast doors parted. He strode in, the heavy-yet-quiet footsteps of a born hunter his only heralds, the Hunter pair that usually accompanied left behind to guard his ship. Inside, he saw only two people: the _Infinity_ 's captain and leader of its battlegroup, Vice Admiral Thomas Lasky, and the UNSC's de-facto leader, Admiral Miranda Keyes.

If he yet felt apprehension at her inhuman appearance, after all these years, he did not show it.

"Arbiter, welcome." -Lasky said, rising and shaking his hand. The human was small, frail. In another time, he'd have snapped him like a bone.

"We have urgent business. Let us waste no time on protocol, for the Remnant's advance does not falter." -he replied. Thel meant no disrespect, but the fact remained that worlds burned as they spoke.

"Let's get right to it, then. We found Beta Halo." -Keyes said.

Thel's eyes widened in shock. For the last three decades or so, they'd abandoned their pursuit of the other Halos' locations - too far from their grasp, not as important S their survival. "The Covenant?" -he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Jul's forces still roamed the Orion Arm, he knew. They had long since chosen to allow his futile crusade to continue, provided he did not engage in hostilities with their alliance. So far, the zealot had held up the bargain.

Keyes crossed her metallic arms. "They know. Intel from Palamok tells us the Storm fleet has vanished. Hard to tell, but the timeline matches up."

The Arbiter chose to ignore that the Admiral had just admitted to spying on one of his people's homeworlds. "What revealed the ring's location?"

Lasky brought up a fairly simple transmission, translated from Forerunner code into Sangheili script. It read, roughly, like this:

 _...Breach of containment protocols..._

 _...Non-human vectors found on-site…_

 _...Monitor platform non-responsive…_

 _...Sentinel defense grid disabled..._

… _Damage to installation ongoing…_

 _..._

…

…

 _...Requesting assistance..._

Thel's eyebrows lowered. "Non-human vectors...who has found Halo?"

Miranda shook her metallic head. "I'm more concerned with the rest of the message; we obviously won't leave it to chance, but at least we _know_ the Covenant can't activate the Array without a Reclaimer. It's the fact that they could disable the Forerunner's defenses that's most dangerous - and interesting."

"What about the containment breach?" -Lasky said.

"Without a Gravemind, it'll take the Flood a while before they're a threat - again, not leaving anything up to luck, we have to send a fleet - but if we could _gain_ this kind of power over the Forerunners, we could use it to stop the Remnant." -Keyes reasoned.

Thel supposed she'd know better; Miranda Keyes had, of course, perished at the hands of the Prophet of Truth, back at the Ark, in the waning hours of the Great War. Yet, years later, when the alliance had returned to the massive Forerunner Installation, they had found her _living_ , along with a host of other formerly dead humans, abandoned after the War, seemingly brought back to some semblance of life by the Ancilla in charge of the Ark.

Miranda Keyes had a humanoid shell for a body, silver metal and cyan lighting fashioned to resemble her living image - her very _soul_ driving the automaton through the power of a Forerunner artifact known as the Composer. Her visage, while unsettling, was fairly true to how he remembered her in life, but he knew better, knew of what lay beneath the shell, the amber-tinted _nightmare_ that the Composer had created.

And therein lay the current crux of their existence. The so-called Imperial Remnant; an ever growing collection of reanimated humans, remade in the Forerunners' image.

"We all know at this rate the Warden will have Composed all of humanity in less than a decade. And he _won't_ spare the ASR in the process." -Miranda said.

As if the Arbiter needed the reminder. Whole worlds swept away, billions of innocents barely escaping with their lives simply for being in the path of the next human colony to be Composed.

To think he'd once _worshipped_ the Forerunners. He growled in disgust.

"You require our fleets." -the Arbiter surmised.

"I know it's a lot to ask, Arbiter but we need to keep the Covenant away from Halo's Control Room. We don't have the ships to do it alone." -Lasky began, apologetic.

"Do not regret what has yet to happen. If my worlds must suffer so that Halo remains dormant, and to identify those that can bend Forerunner technology to their will, so be it. But know this, humans." -he said, towering over his peers. "We will fight the Covenant only if the cause is worthy. _Do not_ start a war you cannot see through."

With that, the Arbiter turned and left, his mind deeply troubled, but his head proudly held high.

* * *

 _ **Systems Alliance SSV**_ " **Normandy SR2"**

 _ **En route to Arcturus Station**_

Shepard sighed, a decade of pain weighing on her. "This is _never_ how we win, you two. Sooner or later, all this secrecy comes back to bite us in the ass."

Cerberus' Director seemed all but apologetic. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but we couldn't risk this getting out."

Liara hummed. "I know you're not fond of our more _underhanded_ tactics, Jane, but some things are best handled in the shadows."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Spare me the poetry, Liara. Just spell it out."

Despite the chastisement, Liara smirked, "Very well. We've known about the UNSC's existence for about four years. Cerberus, even longer than that."

" _Harper_ knew. _I_ had no clue. I only figured it out when we managed to crack the Omni-tool we salvaged from his body." -Miranda retorted.

Jane held up a couple of fingers. "That's _two_ lies, so far."

"So, sue me. I know you like Hackett, but I don't trust a man who'd let Cerberus stand after all the shit the Illusive Man pulled."

Shepard crossed her arms. "I vouched for you!"

"That's right. For _me_. Not the organization."

The Commander sighed. "Fine, get on with it."

"Right. Soon as I found out, I shared what I had with Liara. UNSC space was too far beyond our networks' reach, so we had the ODSY drive intended for the Andromeda Initiative developed, miniaturized, and built a ship around it to scout the Orion Arm out."

"The Andromeda Initiative? Isn't that Jien Garson's pipe dream that never took off?" -Shepard asked, confused.

"Unfortunately for _them_ , the Reaper invasion rather smashed their plans. Garson's funding ran out, and they missed their 2185 launch window. To think, they might have skipped the Reaper War altogether…after Garson's untimely death, the Council had the tech developed for her project recycled for the Pathfinder program on our advice. The _Tempest_ scout ships and _Andromeda_ dreadnoughts of the Initiative are based on these designs - as is their base of operations." -Liara explained.

Miranda gestured impatiently. " _Regardless_ , I sent a team to investigate. It led us to the _Forward Unto Dawn_ , and thus, the Master Chief and Cortana."

"So, why tell me now?" -Shepard asked, digesting the information.

Liara and Miranda looked at each other. "Because we _know_ you, Shepard. You're going to try and bring those two some peace of mind, to help them adjust to their situation, to live their lives among us. And while that's commendable, and rather _typical_ of you, we want you to be aware that there's a chance that they could get back home."

"On the other hand, there's also the fact that my scouts never returned. It's quite possible that we may have a potentially dangerous First Contact on our hands, soon." -Miranda added.

Shepard sighed. "And I bet you want Spectre eyes on it. Again, we could be ready for this if you'd chosen to share."

A haunted expression passed through Miranda's face. "As Liara said...some things are best kept secret."

"The UNSC we saw was not at peace, Shepard. They were under attack, by something... _powerful_. Horrific. Entire worlds, wiped out in mere moments." -the Asari said, similarly disturbed.

Shepard ran a synthetic hand through her rust-red hair. " _Christ_. That's not going to go over well with John and Cortana."

"Yet another reason behind our silence. This is a heavy burden. It is up to you to decided whether to place it upon them or not." -Liara said.

" _Thanks_." -Shepard said, utterly sarcastic.

"Can you imagine, though? What it would do to our fragile, rebuilt society if they knew there was something out there capable of killing a planet in seconds?" -Miranda asked.

"Give people _some_ credit. We bounced back from the Reapers. We can take some far-off bad news." -Shepard reasoned.

Miranda snorted. " _You_ can. _You_ talked down a Reaper _on foot_. The average Joe has a nightmare just thinking about the CGI Husks he saw on a holovid that one night."

Shepard sighed. Between her _own_ nightmares and the whole John _thing_ , she wasn't in the mood to argue anymore. Her Omni-tool manifested, bringing an urgent, encrypted message to her attention.

"That's odd." -she said. "It's from Pathfinder Ryder."

Miranda's eyes widened. "Oh, _crap_. Shepard, there's something _else_ you should know…" -the brunette began, but Shepard was no longer listening, reading through the human Pathfinder's message.

Terrans. Protoss. Zerg. Forerunners. Halo. _The Flood_...

First Contact.

* * *

 **In which pretty much the entire remainder of this particular story is set up.**

 **Remember when the Illusive Man mentioned he'd found some particularly powerful civilizations out there? In the first chapter? Yup. See you next time!**


	20. Chapter 19: Worried

**I know, I know. This isn't all that impressive after all that wait. I'll admit I don't even like the ending to this chapter. But things needed to keep moving and I couldn't figure out a better way to do it. Action is right around the corner, folks, I promise. I think I've gotten past the horrible writer's block affecting me, so it should take no more than a couple of weeks for the next chapter.**

 **That being said, thank you for your patience, and I hope that you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Protoss Mothership**_ " **Shield of Aiur"**

 _ **In orbit of Forerunner Installation 01**_ " **Beta Halo"**

 _ **Unnamed system, Koprulu Sector**_

Sara wasn't entirely sure how many more times her mind could be blown.

"This is a _ship_?" -she asked, incredulous.

Selendis seemed to smirk. The High Executor had offered to give her and her small team a tour of the _Shield of Aiur_ ; her wide pathways, towering spires, and domed sky had given Sara the impression that the massive structure was actually a space station, when in fact, it was a starship.

" _Indeed, Sara Ryder. This vessel was once the flagship of the Golden Armada, the greatest fleet in the galaxy._ " -the Executor stated.

Sara thought Vetra might have an issue with that boast, but she did not voice this. "It's _huge_."

Selendis narrowed her eyes in mirth. " _Your youngling-like demeanor is refreshing._ " -she said. " _Few appreciate the beauty of our designs. Most simply fear their capabilities._ "

Ryder chuckled as they passed by some kind of large, bulbous automaton - _a Sentry_ , Selendis absently whispered in her head. "How could I not? I thought this ship was a floating city, some kind of space station."

The Executor hummed. " _Ages past, Motherships like this one were built as research and exploration vessels. The last decade forced us to condition them for war. I assure you, our more recent warship designs are far more practical. The amount of Khaydarin crystals needed to operate this vessel_ alone _would be enough to establish a dozen new colonies._ "

"What's a Khaydarin crystal?" -Peebee asked.

Selendis showed them her forearm, where a polished blue crystal resided, softly glowing. " _An amplifier for our psionic power. Everything from our psi-blades to our ability to travel faster-than-light is enabled by these crystals._ "

Sara felt a brief surge of power through the superficial, conversational psychic link she had with the Executor, and a somewhat flattened, conical shape of pure, white-hot energy manifested from an emitter above Selendis' wrist. " _This is a glimpse of our true power, Sara Ryder. Our wrath given form. Our courage, a weapon, tempered by decades, even_ centuries _of training and experience._ "

"How long is a Protoss' lifespan?" -Liam asked, amazed.

Selendis gave a mental shrug. " _Age is near meaningless to us. A Templar may only fall if slain._ "

Peebee's Omni-tool appeared, scanning the Executor's weapon. "That's _fascinating_ ; the scanner knows there's _some_ kind of energy there, but it can't tell what it is."

" _It will know, in time. Perhaps we can find a Phase-smith on our way to the bridge, that your instruments may be upgraded_."

"You're taking us to your bridge? That's...trusting." -Sara remarked.

Selendis hummed. " _I have seen nothing within you or without that would mark you as a threat to the_ Daelaam _. If I had, you would not be standing here_." -she said, casually extinguishing her psionic sword.

"...I see." -Sara replied, slightly perturbed.

"It's one thing to be willing to give us a chance, and another thing entirely to just _give us_ free stuff. Our diplomats haven't even met yet, what's the catch?" -Peebee asked, crossing her arms.

" _No 'catch' that you seem to imply, Pelessaria B'Sayle. We are an ancient race, long past our Golden Age. Our ancient pride would see us perish alone, ignoring the lesser races. Nearing extinction has given us new perspective. Should you prove an ally to the_ Daelaam _, you will be granted our knowledge, like the Terrans before you. What you choose to do with our gifts...that will be the true test you face._ "

"What did the Terrans do to prove themselves?" -Liam asked.

" _Aided us in retaking Aiur and destroying Amon._ " -Selendis answered wryly.

"Your homeworld, right?" -Sara asked, ignoring the odd tone and foreign name.

Selendis' thoughts turned wistful, nearly adoring. " _The most beautiful world in this Sector, scarred as it is by the Zerg invasion._ "

Ryder's thoughts were filled with images of bluish-purple sunsets, vast jungles, crystal-filled underground caverns, and mountainous ravines so deep and long as to swallow the Citadel in its entirety. The scenery turned to Aiur's cities - all new, she knew - the curved golden spires of New Antioch, the emerald-encrusted obsidian monoliths of New Talematros, and the floating city of Cybros.

"Wow. I'd like to visit some day." -Sara said.

" _All in good time, I assure you._ "

They reached a set of heavy doors, guarded by the same kind of armored Protoss from First Contact. Their weapons were very much active this time, massive psionic battleaxes sprouting from either side of the long, golden pole. They did not move as the blast doors opened, revealing the bridge. Like the rest of the actual warship - not the 'city' at its center, which Ryder now knew to be densely packed - the bridge was sparsely crewed. Less than a dozen Protoss milled about at their various stations, all of them decorated with the same Khaydarin crystals omnipresent in Protoss technology.

" _Report_." -Selendis ordered, all business.

One of the Protoss immediately took a fist to their chest. " _Executor, the fleet holds steady. The Terran warships are rejoining our formation._ "

"Terran warships? Where are they?" -Sara wondered, gazing at the stars above.

Selendis beckoned for them to join her at a round tank, filled with crystals arranged in a lotus-like formation. The Executor barely touched it and it flared to life, showing a three-dimensional representation of Beta Halo and the _Shield of Aiur_. " _Part of the technology we would entrust you, should this alliance solidify_." -she said, and made a different gesture, like a wave. _Dozens_ of smaller, angular starships appeared, swarming around the Protoss Mothership, translucent to show their stealthy nature.

Sara looked upwards, seeing no change in the stars above. "They're completely invisible."

" _Motherships are powerful vessels of war, but it is their ability to warp reality that has made them invaluable in our fleets._ "

"I can see how that'd be pretty goddamn useful." -Sara said. "The _Tempest_ can mask its emissions, but it's never invisible."

" _Indeed. A notable advancement, to be sure, if quite a long way from our stealth technology._ "

"Didn't stop you guys from scaring the shit out of us with that message." -Peebee noted. "For practically immortal beings, you guys don't seem too patient."

" _Templar do not hesitate, Asari. We act. We pave the way, and bear the brunt of our mistakes, that the_ Daelaam _and our allies may be spared._ "

The rogue crosses her arms. "Right."

Selendis hums, equally unconvinced. " _You are wise not to simply trust our word. Should you find our actions wanting, I encourage you to make it known_."

The central console shifted from a calming blue to an angry crimson as the High Executor spoke. Selendis turned immediately, scanning the vast amounts of information streaming through the holographic display.

"What is it?" -Sara asked, concerned.

Selendis did not reply immediately. " _I advise you to return to your starship, Pathfinder._ "

Sara frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

The Protoss looked…hesitant. " _Our Observers have detected a massive disturbance incoming._ "

"Can't be our diplomats…we're too far away." -Peebee reasoned.

Selendis turned, facing the stars. " _Go. We will better coordinate our efforts from our respective command centers._ "

The Executor's tone brokered no argument - and besides, Sara wasn't in command of anyone but the _Tempest's_ crew. "Alright, but keep us posted. Any way you think we can help, let us know."

Selendis gave her acknowledgement, before dedicating her full attention to the data streaming in from their sensors. As Peebee and Liam hurried to exit the bridge, Sara turned one last time. Among the many feelings now clouding the Executor's thoughts, one in particular made her stomach drop with fear for the first time since they'd found Halo.

Selendis was worried.


	21. Chapter 20: Prodded

**I will warn you not to get too attached to the current confrontational tone of the fic. This is still meant to be an optimistic take on the crossover. Mistakes and assumptions will be made, and people both human and not will die. This is _not_ , however, genocide.**

* * *

 _ **Raider Firebase Zeta**_

 _ **Forerunner Installation 01 "**_ **Beta Halo** "

Raynor wasn't quite sure what to make of the foreigners. It wasn't their variety of species, testament to their far greater capacity for unity and tolerance, when compared to the people of Koprulu. It was their demeanor; the way they walked, what they said...it made it clear that, for all that they'd gone through a similar apocalypse, the races of the Council were still... _optimistic_. He didn't share the sentiment. He hoped things would go well with the diplomats, of course, but if his _entire life_ had taught him anything, it was to expect the worst.

Hence, his utter lack of surprise at the situation above the ring's surface.

"What do we know?" -he asked Matt.

Horner crossed his arms. " _Not a whole lot. Five hundred or so capital ships and their escorts just...appeared outside our weapons' range._ _The Adjutant believes they used artificial wormholes._ "

He frowned. He wasn't all that savvy when it came to theoretical physics, but he _did_ know you couldn't just up and _create_ a wormhole, so much as you manipulated existing ones into brief existence. "So, pretty advanced. They feelin' chatty?"

Horner shook his head. " _Not in a language we can understand. They had the Mothership targeted the moment they appeared, anyway._ "

Raynor sighed. "Crap. Just what we needed. Don't let anyone shoot first, Matt. Selendis included. What's the word on our guests?"

" _The Executor booted them from the_ Shield of Aiur _. I tried to get them to leave the system, but they want to stay and help._ "

Of _course_ they did. "They're humans, alright. No _goddamn_ sense of self preservation. Send 'em my way, then. Their ship ain't exactly built for combat. At least their rifles we can put to use."

" _Understood. I'm sending the_ Ampersand _to your position to drop some more prefabs and SCVs._ "

"Got our backs as always. Nice t'see the Dominion hasn't changed you, Matt."

The younger man scoffed. " _Are you kidding me? I'm the one keeping Valerian on the straight and narrow. Good luck, Jim._ "

Raynor nodded, ending the communication. He exited the SitRoom of the Command Center, finding his guests waiting expectantly. "Sorry about that, folks. 'Fraid we're gonna have to cut the tour a lil' short."

The blonde with the fancy sword, Cora, crossed her arms. "We heard. Ryder told us we've got company."

"Like I said before: we've the most rotten luck with First Contact. The _Tempest s_ hould be on its way here soon. I'd advise y'all to flee the system, but something' tells me you ain't leaving." -he said, grabbing his custom sniper rifle.

"We may be explorers first and foremost, but we're hardly defenseless. We can handle a hostile First Contact situation." -she replied.

Raynor idly wondered what would've happened if the Pathfinder and her team had run into the Tal'darim first. "I believe it. Gotta warn you, though; this ain't gonna be easy. We're outnumbered ten-to-one, and backup's gonna take awhile to get here."

The large, reptilian alien - Krogan? - chuckled. "Fought in more hopeless sieges than I care to remember, the past two thousand years. I'm sure we'll manage."

If things went south, Raynor didn't doubt the old lizard would make it. He was more scars than scales, at this point. "Go join the rest of your team, then. I'm sure we'll find a place for your particular talents."

The foreigners left the CC, headed towards the designated landing zone. Raynor contemplated his next step as he walked back in the SitRoom. "Adjutant, do we know where Kerrigan's at?"

The (literally) shackled AI came to life. " _Sarah Kerrigan's last known location was: Forerunner Installation 01, twenty days, five hours, and seven minutes ago._ "

 _Nothing since she left_ , he thought. "Can you scan the alien fleet for matches with the Compendium?"

" _Negative_. _Hostile fleet is beyond this base's sensor range, as well as that of our fleet._ "

"And if we patched you into the Protoss grid?"

" _Additional sensor range and accuracy expected. Scanning the enemy fleet possible. Warning: Protoss technology is incompatible with Forerunner systems. Harmful feedback and corruption may occur._ "

"I'll take those odds. Not like the Compendium's good for much these days. Link up with the _Shield of Aiur_ 's Observer grid and gimme everythin' you've got on the new guys."

" _Acknowledged._ "

Raynor leaned on the holotank, which changed to show a bright green representation of the base, and the forces under his command. "What're we dealin' with now?" -he muttered to himself.

* * *

 _ **Covenant CAS-class Assault Carrier "**_ **Song of Retribution** "

 _ **In orbit of Forerunner Installation 01 "**_ **Beta Halo** "

" _Greetings, sentients! Welcome to Installation 01. I am 001 Obsolete Contempt, the Monitor tasked with overseeing this facility. I would greet you myself, but I fear my mobile platform has been disabled, as have this ring's defensive capabilities._ "

Jul 'Mdama growled as he listened to the formless Oracle's plea, the crew around him in awe of the sacred guardian. "Who has desecrated you so?"

" _Why_ , _the Reclaimers, of course! No other species could possibly access this Installation's systems._ _I believe they've established a base of some sort on the ring's surface, near the Cartographer._ "

The Sangheili narrowed his eyes. "What of the Parasite? Is the Flood contained?"

The Monitor hummed. " _As far as my severely diminished sensors can tell, the Flood samples stored in this Installation have been eradicated, as well as the Library itself._ "

Jul pondered this. Clearly, the heretics had some idea of the danger the Parasite posed. "Perhaps we have misjudged the offenders, Jul? Their wanton destruction may have had a noble purpose." -his Fleetmaster, Gek 'Lhar, wondered.

"I would not be surprised. The Flood is truly evil; any sentient would know to annihilate it." -Jul admitted. "The fact remains, however, that they have damaged the Ring in the process. The gods demand retribution."

'Lhar nodded, satisfied. Jul turned to the Oracle. "How do we liberate you, and activate Halo's defenses?"

The Ancilla perked up. " _The Reclaimers have taken my mobile platform to their Command Center. As for Installation 01's defenses, taking a single Reclaimer to the Control Room will suffice. Their consent will_ not _be required._ "

Jul closed his eyes and took a clawed hand to his armored chest. "By the will of the gods, it shall be done."

" _I simply_ must _warn you: the Reclaimers have constructed powerful defenses, and will likely refuse to cooperate in any capacity. These tasks will not be easy._ "

"If the Path were simple, all would tread it. We humbly accept this holy crusade."

The Ancilla seemed to brighten in joy. " _Wonderful! Honestly, I simply do not understand what my creators were thinking. Your species seems far more willing to accommodate than humanity._ "

Jul nearly fell to his knees in gratitude. "They will soon see the better choice."

The AI hummed, cutting the connection. 'Lhar approached him. "What is your command, Leader?"

"Deploy the fleet. Make certain that the enemy knows how utterly outmatched it is."

"Are you not concerned that their technology seems far more advanced than anything we have seen prior?"

"I will not fall to the same mistake that the _worms_ who ruled us did. The humans are dangerous, and we will treat them with the respect such a threat deserves." -he claimed.

Jul brought up a holographic image of the lone - yet no less impressive - enemy vessel. "Force their strange warship away from the Ring, that we may begin landing operations. Keep me appraised; I must confer with the Archon."

Gek 'Lhar did not hide his disgust. "The _Kett_? What use do you have for such vermin?"

"Even the youngest of Unggoy believe in the Path with more conviction, it is true. You fail to consider, my old friend, that what they lack in faith, they more than make up for in numbers. Place their chitinous hides between the humans and our own warriors; it is time for the children of Sarhesen to become more than anchors dragging at our feet."

* * *

 _ **Protoss Mothership "**_ **Shield of Aiur** "

 _ **Contested space above Firebase Zeta, Forerunner Installation 01 "**_ **Beta Halo** "

It soon became apparent to Selendis that their attackers were not seeking to outright destroy then. The High Executor was somewhat disappointed; she'd been hoping for a challenge.

" _Status report."_ -she ordered.

" _Shields have fallen to 98%, Executor. At the current rate of bombardment, they will fall within thirty-one cycles._ "

Selendis examined the tactical map again. The enemy had arranged itself around the _Shield of Aiur_ , peppering it with laser bursts and plasma lances - three of the largest capital ships, five cruiser analogues, and a dozen smaller escorts. Unless they became desperate enough to use something far stronger than their measly firepower, they would have quite a hard time penetrating a Mothership's stalwart defenses. " _The Terrans?_ "

" _Ready to counterattack_."

She'd sent them to the very edge of the Mothership's cloaking field, poised for retaliation. " _How long until reinforcements arrive?_ "

" _Seventy-two cycles at the earliest._ "

Selendis hummed. " _We will need to be aggressive soon. I can feel their frustration growing. Helmsman! Put more space between us. We may leave our ground forces imperiled, but it will at least allow us greater freedom to maneuver._ "

" _At once, Executor!_ "

The _Shield_ lurched slowly, away from its previously immovable position. The enemy flagship - an impressive vessel, she'd admit, even larger than her own - swiftly pursued, which the Mothership's energy projectors punished, making the thick, silvery plasma shields that protected it flare dramatically. The warship visibly slowed, preferring to bombard from afar again.

" _Ready the Core for detachment, and warp away all non-essential personnel to the surface._ "

The Warp Matrix came to life, the scientists aboard teleporting to the hidden Nerazim outpost near the Terran base.

" _The enemy capital ships have begun deploying fighter craft._ "

Selendis sneered. " _Have our Phoenix wings greet them in kind_."

Dozens of Protoss starfighters launched from the three hangar bays of the _Shield of Aiur_ , swiftly crossing the void between the Mothership and its attackers. The agile fighters were utterly outnumbered by the enemy, but their speed and maneuverability was leagues beyond what the strange purple vessels could manage. Coupled with their ability to fire backwards, the Phoenixes managed to hold their own.

" _Executor! Two wormholes have appeared beside us!_ "

Two portals had indeed appeared at either side of the _Shield of Aiur_. Most interestingly, Selendis noted that two of the largest ships in their pursuit had disappeared moments before. " _Fools_. _Divert power from our shields to the Warp Drive._ "

As the two gargantuan ships exited their portals, Selendis selected the Mothership's jump destination. The _Shield of Aiur_ seemed to elongate impossibly for a moment, cyan warp vectors appearing like a road around them. In less than a second, they had switched places with the ships attempting to flank them, and were now exactly in the middle of the alien fleet.

The Terran warships, now outside the cloaking field, immediately seized on the opportunity, falling on the enemy capital ships like raptors on carrion. " _Purifier beams, target their escorts and fire at will_."

Ignoring the larger warships, the _Shield of Aiur_ launched a three pronged barrage of pure energy, burning through the plasma shields of the smaller vessels as if they were not in place. In precisely four salvos, the enemy had lost their escort.

That was not to say, of course, that the foreigners had simply taken the beating. The enemy capital ships had dished out as much punishment as their momentary disarray had allowed, effectively taking out a third of the _Shield of Aiur's_ remaining shields. Selendis felt joy, however, at seeing her trust in the Terrans bear fruit; the would-be flankers had been completely overwhelmed, unable to jump away in time to avoid the combined firepower of fifty Terran Battlecruisers. The enormous ships now floated lifelessly towards the gas giant, venting atmosphere.

The remaining six ships, correctly predicting that the Terrans would converge on them, wisely jumped away, returning to the safety of the full fleet stationed behind Beta Halo. Selendis allowed herself a brief respite as her forces eliminated the fighters left behind; they had overcome the opening stage of the battle relatively unharmed.

" _Focus our efforts on regenerating our shields. The enemy will not be deterred by this small victory._ "

* * *

 **Couple of things to note, here: Covenant weaponry is _not_ a joke. It simply seems to be to the technological gods that are the Protoss. **

**And, yeah, the Kett. Aside from this really talented artist I follow on Tumblr, I don't know _anyone_ that seems to like them, myself included. I hate their design, their tech especially. So I set this story up so that they're the black sheep of Jul 'Mdama's Storm Covenant. They're basically atheists, interested only in the relative safety and comparably advanced technology the theocratic conglomerate provides its members. **

**Basically, the Forerunner Remnant was kicking their collective ugly asses back in the Orion Arm, and the Covenant took pity - they just so happened to need some expendable foot soldiers. Expect them to die the most.**

 **Until next time! (...whenever that is...)**


	22. Chapter 21: Emboldened

**Action finally returns in this long AF chapter.**

* * *

 _ **Raider Firebase Zeta**_

 _ **Forerunner Installation 01**_

Sara watched grimly as the all-too-familiar tension of war spread around the Terran base. The hulking Marines seemed almost to thrive in it, tossing around massive ammo packs and grenades like they were no more dangerous than a baseball. Squad after squad walked out of the various barracks, ballistic combat shields secured to their forearms, and Gauss rifles at the ready. She couldn't help the awe she felt examining the base's defenses - everything from turret-topped bunkers to concealed spider mine drones.

Just when she thought she'd spotted the glaring flaw in their defense - namely, the complete lack of mobility options - combat buggies and jump-jet wearing gunslingers zipped out to the artificial tundra that surrounded Firebase Zeta.

"They seem to have thought of everything." -Vetra said, echoing her sentiments. The rogue Turian was testing the newly developed Turbocharge system on her Initiative standard issue X-8 Ghost rifle. They had both been given access to one of the Terran supply depots, though the enormous weapons the other humans wielded were hardly a good fit for them. Sara was unsure that she could even lift one of their rifles.

"You've spent longer with them than I have. What's your take?"

Her mandibles shifted uncomfortably. "It's...troubling, Ryder. I've never seen armor so heavy on a single soldier that _wasn't_ piloting a heavy mech. Makes me shudder to think of why they need it."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Selendis already told us why."

"Commander Raynor mentioned it as well; but it's hard to fathom the Zerg Swarm, even through the lens of people who have personally slain them in droves."

"I'll give you that one. Tell you what, though: it makes me want to work things out between Council Space and the Koprulu Sector more than anything. They deserve peace."

Vetra snorted. "Doesn't look like they'll get it anytime soon."

Sara sighed, chagrined. "Thanks for the positive attitude, Vetra."

"Happy to serve, Pathfinder." -Vetra replied, sardonic. The Turian donned her helmet, the visor polarizing.

The Pathfinder brought up her Omni-tool, checking that SAM's hastily applied software patch could hold a steady connection with the Raiders' comms network. Satisfied, she collapsed the holographic interface and slid her own helmet into place, verifying the seals.

" _Pathfinder, I have established a connection with the Terran AI._ "

"Glad to hear you're making friends, SAM. Has Raynor decided where we're needed?"

" _Commander Raynor would like to know our team's capabilities._ "

"Give him a summary, SAM. Biotics, tech, weaponry...the works."

" _Of course._ "

Vetra slung her rifle over her shoulder. "Bit early in our relationship to give everything away, isn't it? These people _do_ call themselves Raiders, Pathfinder."

"This isn't the time for mistrust, Vetra. If we're gonna survive whatever the hostile armada above our head is about to throw at us, we'll need to know we can count on the Terrans' support." -Ryder resolutely stated. "Besides, if we die, it's not gonna matter much."

"Kinda have a sister to go back to, so I'll pass on the _dying_ part. Still...I suppose I appreciate the sentiment. I only hope the Terrans do as well."

Ryder shrugged. "Raynor strikes me as a sentimental guy, at least."

"Considering the sidearm at his side, he must be. That thing _has_ to be ancient."

"Hard to tell. Haven't seen a six-shooter outside of museums, or maybe old-timey cowboy vids. That, plus the accent…"

Vetra headed outside the supply depot. "Even for humans, Terrans do seem somewhat... _quirky_."

A trio of rotorcraft zoomed overhead, rousing the light layer of snow that covered the base. Slowly following, the looming form of what could only be a Terran capital ship rumbled over the base.

"Holy crap. That thing is _way_ too large to fly in-atmo." -Sara breathed.

"That's the _Ampersand_." -Commander Raynor said, walking up to them. "She'll be droppin' supplies and reinforcements before linkin' back up with the fleet."

"Commander." -Vetra said.

Raynor nodded. "Ma'am." -he said, turning to Ryder. "Now, don't you worry, Pathfinder. Terran Battlecruisers are built to take on every battlefield. She can handle this op just fine."

"Oh, I believe it. Do you know where you want us, Commander?"

"I do. For folks who claim to be explorers, y'all seem to pack a hell of a punch. I've got a mission, but you'd need to retrofit the _Tempest_ for it. On the bright side, you'll get some _actual_ cloaking for your vessel."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "We'd need to check for compatibility first, but you've got my interest."

Raynor nodded. "Adjutant, send the designs to the Pathfinder."

The Pathfinder's Omni-tool came to life, showing a strange dark box inlaid with what looked like Khaydarin crystals. "SAM, check if this tech can interface with ours."

" _Analyzing. This stealth module combines Protoss and Terran technologies, Pathfinder. As such, it should easily complement the_ Tempest's _existing Internal Emissions Sink system._ "

"You almost make it sound _too_ easy."

" _Despite the obvious aesthetic differences between Terran and Alliance technology, as well as the clear Reaper influence that permeates Council advancements, the baseline design architecture is nearly identical. On top of this, Protoss Khaydarin crystals have been observed possessing a symbiotic behavior with alien technology, enhancing and optimizing it._ "

Raynor pointed his absurdly large sniper rifle skyward. "Your SAM ain't lyin'. I used to have a big ol' Protoss crystal in my ship's science lab. It _grew_ ; almost burst the tank we put it in. By the time we decided it was a bit too large to keep any longer, we noticed it'd fixed half the problems with the ol' _Behemoth_. The _Hyperion's_ never run better."

Sara held her hands up. "Alright, I'm convinced." -she said, activating the comm on her Omni-tool. "Mr. Brodie, be advised, you'll be receiving a sample of alien technology. I want you to install it on the _Tempest_."

" _Doesn't that break, like, half the regulations in the Initiative Protocol?_ "

"This thing is literally going to make our ship invisible, Gil."

" _...got'cha. Integrating ASAP._ "

As the orange glow on her arm faded, the base's alarm started blaring. Raynor frowned. "That's the early proximity warnings. Sounds like whoever we're facing got past my boys upstairs." -he said, worried. "If you're up for it, you can join one of our scouting parties, see what we're up against, while your ride gets fancied up."

"I'll admit, I'm curious about what made the High Executor worried. Maybe we could help resolve things peacefully." -Sara said, hopeful.

"I wish that were the case, Pathfinder, but...well, see for yourself." -Raynor said, pointing upwards.

The _Ampersand_ , which had begun to steadily climb after dropping its payload, began to flare with bright green lights - its particle shields responding to superheated debris, falling towards Halo. Sara could see larger fragments of purple metal hull crashing into mountains, far off in the distance.

The Pathfinder sighed. The stand-off in space had broken.

* * *

 _ **Quadrant 32**_

 ** _Forerunner Installation 01_ "Beta Halo"**

N'kon 'Vaiot rubbed at his bare forearms, trying to cope with the bitter cold. He walked at the spearhead of a column, a hundred Unggoy ahead, two dozen Sangheili behind him, Kett all around them. It was _almost_ reminiscent of before. Just enough to be painful.

Once, he'd been a decorated General, coordinating thousands of troops and personally leading his best warriors into battle against the human scourge. He'd overseen the cleansing of entire continents, watched in glee as plasma rained from the skies, eliminated all trace of the vermin that his gods commanded be destroyed.

Then, the Prophets' lies had come to light. The truth of humanity's heritage had been revealed, horrifying him, and billions like him. He was a shell of his former self, and nothing quite showed it like the armor he wore.

N'kon's armor was, quite simply, falling apart.

The golden gleam of his combat harness was almost entirely gone, the undersuit unsalvageable. What remained of the armored plates - what had not been shot off, melted away, or otherwise destroyed - was an ugly patchwork, unbecoming of his once great status. Try as their Leader might to contradict it, _this_ was the truth of the Storm, of what little remained of the Covenant. A ragtag group of stubborn old fighters and ignorant youths, lost without their treacherous spiritual guides dictating their every action. 'Mdama thought every last one of his warriors true believers, but in truth, many - like himself - followed him simply because they could not allow themselves to get in touch with the reality of their genocidal actions. Better to follow a blind, dogmatic fool than look a human in the eye and attempt to apologize for what could never be forgiven.

Now, he and his brothers in arms treaded upon another Halo. One that 'Mdama demanded be conquered, and eventually, activated. Their illustrious Leadership clearly did not care how many lives it took to secure the Path, given how carelessly they had thrown the _Fealty Until Dawn_ and _Promised Exaltation_ in the middle of a hostile alien fleet. _CAS_ -class Assault Carriers were a precious resource for the Storm; without the numerous colonies and enormous space stations that the Covenant had once called home, they were the only shelter for most of the pilgrims that walked - proudly or otherwise - the fabled Path.

N'kon's dark musings were interrupted by another Sangheili, one that had walked up to him, and clearly one born after the Great War. He could tell because of how awkwardly he held the energy sword on his left hand; he would have never made it past Major in the Covenant, let alone Ultra for him to wield a blade, but the Storm was not nearly as well organized. The youth had likely taken the sword from a fallen warrior's corpse.

"We are not equipped for this weather." -the young warrior murmured, picking at the frost building on his own harness. He was not the only one; every Sangheili around him was suffering in the cold, all of them victims of their reptilian condition.

"Indeed." -N'kon said. The youth's IFF tag read ' _Urako 'Ochar_ '. N'kon barely remembered an old _Kaidon_ by that name owning a small estate on Sanghelios. Not one of worth to the Covenant, if he recalled correctly.

"I suppose it would have taken far too long to properly outfit us. The landing window was small, from what I understand." -he reasoned.

N'kon scoffed. "We would be no less ill equipped had we had a hundred days to prepare. We lack any sort of hostile environment protection, young Urako."

'Ochar frowned. "Do you say this in jest? We have all been assigned such gear, have we not?"

"Have you tried withdrawing it from the armory, boy?"

"Of course not. We have not attempted to take such a hostile world before."

"Then allow me to save you a trip on the grav-lift. There is nothing there but the most basic of weaponry, and then, only enough to defend our warships, should they be boarded. The _Kett_ joined more uniformly armed."

The young warrior snarled in disgust. N'kon couldn't blame him; the selectively mute, inexpressive aliens unnerved even him. It didn't help that he could not tell them apart. The prevailing theory was that the Kett were cloners, and N'kon was inclined to believe it.

"Their weapons and armor are pitiful. Even the _humans_ are better protected."

"You would be wise not to underestimate them, either way. Their technology may not be impressive, but their numbers surely are." -N'kon reasoned.

"They are _weak_ without the gods, and we are weaker for allowing them within the Covenant. The Kett do not believe as we do."

N'kon scoffed. "Faith does not an army feed, boy. The atheists know this far better than we do. The Forerunners left us tools, yes, but we are meant to earn them - to work for the right to use them. It is not _belief_ that enables our access to their technology, but centuries of effort in overcoming the barriers they left in place to allow only their Reclaimers to use it."

The young warrior seemed about to spit out a fiery retort, but the sound of weapons discharge interrupted them - plasma bolts and what could only be metallic rounds, projectiles to which humanity seemed unusually attached to.

"The humans have intercepted our column." N'kon declared, flicking off the safety on his plasma rifle. From the direction the sounds seemed to come from, he guessed that the Kett were bearing the brunt of the likely ambush.

Urako brandished his sword. "Heathens! We shall grind them into dust."

N'kon narrowed his eyes. "Put that blade away, young fool. It will do your aim no service, and we will soon need it to survive."

"Do _not_ presume your age gives you authority over me. We are all equal in the Covenant." -Urako snarled.

He knew this fact painfully well. There was no chain of command, no real hierarchy, or authority. The only ones that could issue orders were 'Mdama himself, and a handful of chosen Acolytes that seldom tried - and failed - to fill the roles of the Field and Fleetmasters of old. Despite his decades of experience, he was _not_ among those chosen to lead. Aside from 'Mdama's directive to conquer Halo, they were pretty much on their own.

"If you wish to speed along your journey into the Great Beyond, you are more than welcome to, boy, but you will _not_ be the cause of my demise. Sheathe your blade, and _wield your rifle_."

'Ochar seemed angry enough to strike him down, but the arrogant hothead never had a chance to be embarrassed by his senior; a blinding light burst from the midst of their formation, making their shields flare and pop, overloaded. N'kon immediately dove for cover, but the younger warrior roared in rage, wildly swinging at the source of the blast. As he realized his rather barebones HUD was gone, and his rifle seemed to have deactivated, N'kon's eyes widened.

"An electromagnetic burst...warriors, cycle your systems!" -he shouted, his comms useless.

He saw a shimmer in the air, an invisible foe who had likely activated the EMP in their midst. He instinctively raised his weapon, but the reboot had barely started. He could only watch as the figure nimbly jumped on Urako's back, and stabbed him through the base of his skull. The young warrior instantly dropped dead.

Before he could even react, a trio of humanoid figures with thruster packs at their backs flew above them, wielding dual pistols that they rapidly shot at the bewildered column. Many of the younger warriors died where they stood, as did most of the panicking Unggoy, picked off as they fled by golden tracers and what sounded like sniper fire. A Lekgolo pair pushed through the back of their formation, wildly firing their fuel rod cannons, but the flying attackers were too nimble.

"Behind the Hunters!" -he shouted, running into position. The more experienced - or lucky - warriors followed his command.

Seeing his electronics come back to life, he began to fire, prompting his comrades to do the same. The combined firepower forced the flying gunslingers to pull back, but aside from some non-lethal wounds, none fell. N'kon grabbed a discarded carbine, aiming at the retreating hostiles, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a black orb barreling towards them.

"Brace!"

The orb reached their midst, but did not explode, as he had feared. Instead, it collapsed in on itself, then began to _warp space_ around the vanished object, becoming what appeared to be a small singularity - an actual, _visible_ black hole.

He did not have enough time to ponder the impossibility of the event before he felt the powerful pull, quickly lifting those closest to the singularity and tossing grown warriors around in the air as if they weighed no more than children. The Mgalekgolo stuck their shield-arms into the icy rock at their feet, anchoring themselves, but N'kon was not so lucky, and soon he began to slip and lose ground.

As he started to helplessly float towards the miniature black hole, a purple bolt sailed past him, striking the singularity; it _exploded_ , causing everyone around it to be blasted away. He crashed into one of the Hunters before he hit the frosted dirt.

N'kon's vision blacked out when he hit the ground, but it returned soon enough. He allowed himself only a moment's relief when he saw that his shields had taken the worst of it, but it did not last long: N'kon's left leg had been broken when he'd hit the Hunter's impenetrable shield, and the pain coming from the bent limb was quickly becoming unbearable.

Just a few meters ahead, the Hunter pair rose, training their cannons on a trio of approaching figures. N'kon was perplexed; only one of them was human, clad in white and blue armor, and wreathed by an azure aura, the same color as that of the singularity. The other two were _wildly_ different figures; one was reptilian and large - as tall as a young Sangheili, but easily thicker than a fully grown Jiralhanae - crested with a bony plate above its large, angry green eyes. The other was easily as tall as the hunched Mgalekgolo pair, covered by strange robes and the skeletal remains of some vicious predator. The tallest alien's eyes glowed, igniting in him a sort of primal fear he'd never experienced before.

The Hunters opened fire, hunkering down behind their shield arms. The human leading the small charge held up its hand, palm towards its chest, then closed it into a fist, which made a large, oval, transparent shimmer appear in front of it. The rod-fuelled green bolt crashed into the film, but instead of exploding, it bounced _back_ , twice as fast. Unprepared, the Hunter reeled backwards in the superheated jade mist. The other bolt had simply missed the tallest alien, which was, bewilderingly, _no longer there_.

N'kon didn't need to wonder for long, as it _appeared_ , as if from thin air, behind the Hunter, raising its weapon - some kind of doubled sided energy scythe - and swiping it cleanly across the Mgalekgolo's vulnerable, exposed midsection.

With its 'gut sack' now open to an atmosphere it could not survive, the great, hulking worm colony fell out of cohesion, the individual creatures squirming for a few seconds before lying still.

Enraged at the loss of its bond brother, the last Hunter vibrated in mournful rage, making N'kon's ears pop and inducing a headache. It changed firing mode, creating a steady stream instead of the arcing bolts, and scattering their attackers. The tallest alien vanished once again, but the reptilian behemoth kept going, seemingly unfazed, even as a shield flared around its form, taking on the damage from the blast. The reptile _crashed_ against the black metal shield, actually making the Hunter stumble backwards.

The human's blue aura glowed brighter, and its entire form seemed to become _energy_ , elongating in the blink of an eye and striking the Hunter with enough strength to actually _dent_ its armor. The mighty alien staggered, but still managed to bring down its shield. The human quickly dove out of the way, then jumped and _floated_ , once again enshrouded by the strange aura. The Hunter levelled its arm cannon, but before it could fire, the reptile pulled a blocky weapon from its back, and shot at the Mgalekgolo's exposed midsection.

Bioluminescent orange blood violently sprayed from the pierced sack, but the Hunter managed to remain upright, swinging its shield at the attacker. The hit connected, breaking the alien's barrier and armor with a satisfying _crunch_. It flew backwards and landed with a groan. The Hunter raced towards the fallen foe in a frenzy, aiming to finish the job, but before it could bring down its shield-arm again, a flash of green cut across it. The two-ton protective sheet fell with a solid thud.

The tallest alien became visible again, and with a final strike, 'beheaded' the Hunter. Without enough Lekgolo to form a conscious being, it too fell to the ground, twitching.

N'kon could scarcely believe it. Not since seeing footage of the dreaded Demons, back in the Great War, had he seen such brutally effective warriors. Not even the reptilian alien had fallen, rising like he had simply stumbled, despite the bleeding cut through his armor.

He had to do something. They had to be stopped, or the entire Covenant risked annihilation. The old Sangheili looked around him, and spotted 'Ochar's deactivated sword not far from his hand. Forcing his mandibles closed, he dove for it, ignoring the shooting pain in his leg, and snapped it to life, roaring as he jumped towards the human.

The small figure startled, instinctively holding an arm over its head. N'kon swung down, but something blocked him; along its forearm, an orange glow had appeared. The force of his blow broke the strange construct and threw the human to the ground, but N'kon knew he had already failed. He saw, more than felt, as the deadly green scythe slashed across his wrist.

Beneath him, the human thrust its hand out, and he _flew_ , landing again in a heap. N'kon struggled to rise, but the adrenaline had worn off. He could put no weight on his broken leg.

" _You are beaten. Do_ not _resist further_." -the human said. He recognized the language, and his limited HUD translated.

He groaned in agony. "You have earned your revenge, human. Finish this slaughter already." -he said, his spirit all but depleted.

The human cocked its head. " _Slaughter? You attacked us, Sangheili. This is self-defense._ "

"Punish me for my sins, if you must, but please, spare those that did not fight in the Great War. They do not know the horrors we committed." -he pleaded, staring at 'Ochar's corpse, then back at the human's opaque visor.

She - it sounded and looked female to him - paused, and crossed her arms. N'kon noticed that the arm he'd struck seemed injured. " _Great War? What are you talking about? We've only just met your species._ "

Beside the human, another appeared - the invisible one from before, most likely, its camouflage fading. " _He must think we're Reclaimers._ " -the human, another female, said.

" _What are Reclaimers?_ "

"You stand upon Halo, human. A relic the Forerunners meant for your kind to inherit, like the rest of their technology. You are a Reclaimer."

The formerly invisible woman shook his head, addressing him. " _We're not them. Not the humans you fought this 'Great War' with. Galaxy's a big place, Sangheili, and it's starting to look like the Forerunners spread us all around_."

N'kon did not know what to say. More humans? A subspecies, perhaps? 'Mdama couldn't know this. He might not have attacked had he known.

 _Hah_ , he thought _, unlikely._

"If you are not Reclaimers...then perhaps we can stop this. Avert another War." -N'kon said, the beginnings of a plan forming.

The humans looked at each, other, then at the tall alien. _Protoss_ , an ethereal voice whispered in his head. " _I'm_ _listening_."

* * *

 **This would've looked a lot less fearsome from Sara's perspective. Through the eyes of a mook, though...biotics are terrifying. Nevertheless, this is not Sara, Drax, and the unnamed Nerazim's first skirmish with the Covenant. This is about two hours into the land-based fighting, in which mostly harassment tactics and skirmishes have happened.**

 **And yeah, I know singularity only affects unshielded enemies, but that's a game balance thing. It's illogical in my book.**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- EDIT - Answering a couple of guest reviews:**

 **+The invisible woman is actually a Spectre, not a Ghost. So, not Nova. Remember, there are no Dominion forces near or on Halo, only Raynor's Raiders and whatever Protoss forces a Mothership can carry.**

 **+As much as I hate to disappoint you, Kett Exaltation isn't a thing in this universe. Firstly, because it feels a little too much like what Reapers do to create Husks in my mind. Secondly, because there's already so much going on in this story that it'd distract more than add anything of value. In this story, Kett are kind of like the bad ending for the Kaminoans in Star Wars. They became DNA masters, but modified themselves into sterility, and resort to cloning to keep their species around. There's more to it than that, but those are the basics.**


	23. Chapter 22: Disagreed

_**Raider Firebase Zeta**_

 _ **Forerunner Installation 01 "**_ **Beta Halo"**

Sara walked into the Terran Command Center, removing her helmet with a hiss of pain. Her right arm was fractured and healing, after blocking the Sangheili's strike. She'd had to ditch her Omni-tool as well, overloaded beyond repair. Her only consolation was that it hadn't been the one her father had left her; the Omni-blade had never been designed for more than a quick melee kill, let alone clashing with another, much more stable plasma based sword.

That, plus the migraine from overusing her biotics, and the discovery of yet _another_ type of humans, made her foul mood rather justified, in her opinion. She roughly placed the helmet on the holotable, drawing Raynor's attention from the tactical map he'd been studying.

"Pathfinder. How's the arm?" -Raynor asked, amused.

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Healing along. Your Medics are kind of unorthodox, but I can't argue their results."

He gave her a look that betrayed extensive experience with the rather eccentric healers. " _Yeah_. They've seen a lot worse, I'll tell you that."

"I believe it. Still, the Covenant pack a punch. We're lucky you had intel on what to expect from them; I might not be here otherwise." -she said. Just in time - suspiciously so, even - Raynor had managed to 'scan' the enemy fleet. The data had been essential in taking the attackers down quickly and efficiently. "How'd you get that, by the way?"

"Good ol' scouting...and a couple of Forerunner cheats."

Sara sat, tired. " _Right_. The Forerunners. Our new guests know of them too, did you know? It's why they're attacking in the first place. They think of them as gods."

Raynor rolled his eyes, annoyed yet not particularly surprised. " _Figures_. The last thing the Sector needs is some kind of Holy Crusade. Seems like it could be a good thing for us, though, if these first few skirmishes are any indication. Religious fervor ain't a match for some basic military tactics."

"The Covenant did seem out of its depth, combat-wise. In _fact_ , they were _pretty_ surprised to see humans defeat them so handily."

Raynor pursed his lips. "Yeah?"

Ryder shot him a _look_. "Let's skip the bullshit, yeah? Were you ever planning to tell us that neither of us belong to the kind of humans _actually_ meant to take Halo for themselves?" -Sara asked, wiping a caked on layer of sweat from her brow. Her once pristine white and blue armor was now stained with purple and orange.

To his credit, the Commander didn't seem shocked. "Not particularly." -Raynor said, smiling tiredly. "Figured it out yourself, didn't you?"

"I'm risking the lives of my team - my _friends_ \- by having them fight a battle that might not have ever even needed to happen, Raynor. You don't owe me much. We don't even belong in the same chain of command, but the _least_ you could do is explain."

He sighed. "This Forerunner stuff is beyond any of us. Hell, it's beyond the _Protoss_ , and _their_ ancestors were basically contemporaries."

" _Try me_."

Raynor looked at her for a second, half proud, half exhausted. "I gave you the basics, Pathfinder: the Flood is _bad_ , Halo is a superweapon, and the Forerunners were _really_ morally dubious. Reclaimers seemed like such a minor detail, in comparison."

" _Minor detail_?"

" _Yeah_. You'd have to ask someone else for the full story, but the truth is, before the Array was activated, the Forerunners secretly preserved as many sentient species as they could, outside its operational range - sort of like an interstellar version of Noah. After Halo was fired, their drones returned our ancestors to their homeworlds. They liked humanity a whole lot, though, enough that they thought to make us heirs, so to ensure we'd make it, they spread us around. Terraformed or goddamn _created_ a few solar systems to more or less match the original, and put us on 'em."

Sara stayed silent for some time. In a way, she could see why the discovery of alternate humanities could be considered small, if you dealt with Protoss and Zerg on a daily basis. Raynor was clearly incredibly jaded towards such cosmic marvels. Sara had managed to avoid it, still bright and eager, but a lot of people back home were heading there, too. After the Reaper War, discovering a malicious entity had guided your civilization from afar...the Forerunners had clearly been superior, but when it came right down to it, they'd done the same; just more hands-on and in a _sort of_ beneficial way.

It didn't make sense for Raynor not to mention it though, for Selendis to have hidden it from her mind. If not for the Covenant attack she might have never found out. She would not have dug deeper.

"The other Earths, you know where they are? You know where we came from?"

"Sure do."

"Then what the _hell_ are you really here for, Raynor? Not research, you clearly already know what you need to. You're obviously _not_ going to colonize a _superweapon_ , like I stupidly believed you would. There's no real resources to harvest, either. And you could've destroyed the Flood by destroying the ring itself, right?" -she wondered aloud. "Why not nuke this thing and move on to the next?"

Raynor looked her in the eye. "Because we can _use_ Forerunner tech, Pathfinder. Most of the time, anyway. Couple of glitched-out doors here and there, but nothing life-threatenin'."

"You mean _besides_ Halo itself? Commander, this thing is galactic _genocide_ in a really fancy package. I thought you and the Protoss meant to destroy it, once you found the rest of the Array. Why would you _ever_ want to use it?"

"You really asking that, Ryder? Tell me, how'd you beat the Reapers?"

Sara frowned. "We fought them on Earth. We...we used a superweapon."

"Yeah, the Crucible. The wave from its detonation passed us a couple months ago. _We_ used ships. And troops. Didn't need a superweapon. We got an easier rap, no doubt about that, but the fact remains, the Protoss alone could've probably handled the Reaper fleet that invaded Koprulu. Think about _that_ , then consider the Protoss _homeworld_ fell to the Zerg. Think about how _we_ fared, how many Terran worlds _burned_." -Raynor said, quietly.

Sara didn't even react at the revelation that the Reapers had invaded the Koprulu Sector. It almost seemed like a footnote. "I get it, Commander. I really do. But the Crucible didn't harm anything other than the Reapers. Halo doesn't differentiate; try to use it, and you could be signing the same death sentence the Forerunners did."

Raynor nodded. "Sure seems that way, Pathfinder. Here's where you're wrong, though: Halo _can_ tell its targets apart. How d'you think it kills _only_ sentient life? _That's_ why we haven't done the _sensible_ thing and blown this thing to pieces. Why we _won't_. We're going to reprogram it."

Ryder paled. "That's... _insane_. Is that even possible?"

"Slow going, for sure, but we're almost there. Didn't believe it myself, at first, but the pieces are all there." -the Terran replied.

The Pathfinder pinched the bridge of her nose. "I...don't know what to say. What if something goes wrong? How are we _ever_ gonna get to peace with the Covenant? This is their goddamn Jerusalem, Commander. They _will_ fight to the death to defend it, especially once they figure out your plan."

"The last thing I want is another war, Ryder, but the decision's already been made. Emperor Mengsk, Hierarch Artanis...hell, even the Queen of Blades gave the ok, knowing how easily it could be turned against the Swarm. They agreed Halo was too important to simply destroy, especially now that we know we can use it to defend ourselves."

"What about _you_ , Raynor? Sure, I haven't known you for long, but I can't say I see you supporting this crazy plan."

"I _didn't_. Not at first, anyway. I thought too many things could go wrong. Thing is, though...I'm tired of fightin', Pathfinder. Been at it most of my life, and I gotta tell you, at my age, you start thinking more about the long term. I've been put into this leadership role time and time again, been responsible for too many deaths. Thousands of lives gone, 'cause of my choices, good or bad. I don't _want_ an ongoing bodycount to be my legacy, Ryder. If there's a chance we can get peace... _lasting_ peace, by firing Halo on our terms? Well, I didn't vote when the decision was made."

Sara understood Raynor's logic. She understood his pain, so similar to that of the heroes of the Reaper War...and yet, she could not bring herself to side with him.

"I don't agree with you, Commander. The risks are simply too great to ignore, even with your assurances. I wouldn't expect the Citadel Council to agree either. The leader of the Covenant seems to, however. Jul 'Mdama thinks activating the ring will somehow bring him closer to his gods." -Sara said, frowning.

Raynor grimaced, back to their immediate problems. "Well...he ain't exactly wrong, is he? Last I knew, his 'gods' had bought the farm."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "What if he _was_? I mean, obviously, he _is_ , but what if everyone saw it confirmed? What if even his most loyal followers watched Halo activate, and absolutely _nothing_ happened?"

Raynor crossed his arms. "What're you thinkin', Pathfinder?"

"I'm thinking...you're going to get a chance to demonstrate that your guys can hack the artificial planet. Do you think you can get Halo to shoot a blank?"

* * *

 **CAS _-class Assault Carrier "_ Song of Retribution"**

 _ **In orbit over Forerunner Installation 01 "**_ **Beta Halo** _ **"**_

He'd heard the whispers, of course. Even on the bridge of the _Song of Retribution_ , they feared he was sending them all to a fruitless doom. Jul truly, sincerely did not blame them. Even after nearly four decades, the hideous scar of mistrust remained, branded upon the Covenant, the Prophets' lies as fresh on their mind as if they had been told yesterday.

Yet, they were _so very close_ , the Path within reach. The humans and their strange, dangerous allies held onto the sacred ring with unmatched ferocity, decimating his loyal troops, but even they could not outlast the millions descending upon them, wave after wave. Even their mighty dreadnought, their dozens of powerful warships, could not withstand the righteous fury of the Storm.

Jul 'Mdama could not, however, quell the ugly voices in his head. They questioned him, his decisions, and would not let the images of their consequences leave his head. He had seen the footage, of course. His troop columns shattered by raining shells, missile payloads, and sniper fire. Dropships and Banshees shot down before they could even get in range of the enemy. Plasma raining from orbit in support even as the mysterious dreadnought wrestled with his own capital ships.

Ignoring them was becoming...difficult.

"You called for me, Leader?" -the ever irritating voice of the Archon interrupted his thoughts.

The smaller creature walked up to him, standing beside him, both of them watching a paltry representation of the carnage on the surface displayed on the holotank. "I did. I have deployed most of the Kett aboard my warship alongside my own troops, but we both know they are a simple token force. We... _require_ your reinforcements."

"You know our only condition, Leader. One that you have failed to deliver on, of late." -the Archon noted.

"We are about to walk the Path, Archon. Must you worry still about studying our gods' technology?"

The Kett leader's expression never changed, but Jul could nearly _feel_ the dismissal radiating from him. "We shall tread the Path at our leisure. Your... _departure_ will no doubt attract the Remnant. Understanding and countering their forces is as important as the day we abandoned Sarhesen."

"The gods wait for no one, Archon. If you fail to follow, the Path may forever close."

"Then we shall honor your legacy, in the hope that you will watch over us lowly mortals."

Jul was no idiot. He knew that the Kett did not believe. In truth, he was fairly certain they were simply incapable of faith. Their only priority was surviving the Forerunner Remnant, and the Covenant were a convenient shield behind which they cowardly hid. The Kett were a failed species, after all, unable to escape their homeworld's gravity well after centuries wasted trying to achieve genetic perfection. Every piece of technology they had developed since their exodus was a paltry imitation.

"You will have your reward, Archon. _If_ your forces support us."

The alien's silver eyes glinted; with Halo at their disposal, they would need to scavenge and scrap for technology no more. 'Mdama could only hope his gods would forgive him for handing the ring over.

Fangs glinting in the bridge's glowing red lights, the Archon bowed. "Your will be done, Leader; the Kett shall facilitate your Great Journey."

* * *

 **Today I learned Raynor is supposed to be 35 years or so in SC2. Not MY Raynor...he's probably in his mid fifties in my head.**

 **Speaking of Raynor, I hate how this chapter clashes a little with his character at face value. Raynor's not one to go for something that he's not 100% behind. He's a rebel, and likes to do things his way. The people he cares for are an exception, though, and they influence him a ton. Between his friends and Kerrigan trying to convince him that keeping Halo intact is a good idea, and his own being fed up with fighting a seemingly never-ending war, he's at least decided not to get in the way. He might think of it this way: if they'd had a way to wipe out the Swarm in one fell swoop, or Amon's Hybrid, how many deaths could've been avoided?**

 **Using Halo is still kind of accepting genocide, though, so don't expect this issue to stay unresolved.**

 **I'll admit, Sara's plan is kind of spur of the moment, but it still fits with the story I want to tell. It's kind of inspired by Halo 2's test firing of Installation 05.**

 **That's all for now. Next time, a fan favorite character returns! Until then!**


	24. Chapter 23: Unexpected

Something was wrong.

With nineteen cycles left until reinforcements arrived, and their shields still at over a third of their strength, Selendis should not be worried. The battle on the surface was rather one-sided, as well. The Covenant, as their enemy called themselves, seemed to have no other tactic than throwing bodies at them.

It was _not_ working.

And yet, she could feel a subtle change unfolding. The enemy warships were _ever so slowly_ pulling back. Bombarding, yes, but not as ferociously as before.

Selendis stared at the tactical map. The attacking vessels numbered in the dozens, but thousands of ships remained beyond the ring's shadow. She could understand sending small formations at first, probing at their defenses, but the trickle of warships had neither ceased nor intensified. Meanwhile, the _Shield of Aiur_ had gained dozens of kills to its name, the Terrans not far behind. Their blockade seemed impenetrable...but then their enemy appeared uninterested in figuring out how to break it.

 _Until now_ , she thought.

The bombardment ceased, all at once. The crew rapidly set the shields on recharge, wasting none of the few precious moments of respite. Their attackers opened wormholes and flew through them, reappearing near the main fleet.

Selendis brought up the enemy composition. The Covenant fleet was impressively diverse, and respectably numerous. Their ship designs varied wildly, too, from the purple and pink warships styled after cetaceans, to the frankly hideous, dark green vessels that seemed to resemble bulbous insects.

It was the latter that finally began to play their part.

Out of the hundreds of capital ships in the Covenant fleet, seventy-two of them charged, as one. They were unshielded, smaller even than the Terran Battlecruisers, but their engines were powerful, and they rapidly zipped through the void.

Selendis sneered. " _It seems their tactics are no more complex in space. Fire at will._ "

The fleet opened fire, a mass of energy zooming through space to meet their enemies. Before the bolts could reach their targets, however, five of the remaining enemy dreadnoughts swiftly exited their respective portals _ahead_ of the charging warships, absorbing most of the salvo and effectively protecting the strikers.

Selendis snarled as she saw the green vessels pass by their colossal allies. Her anger turned to fear, however, as she saw that none of them were shooting, instead making a beeline towards the _Shield of Aiur_.

" _Shoot them down!_ " -she shouted, frantic.

The Mothership came to lethal life, obliterating ship after ship, but there were too many. " _Brace for impact!_ " -someone shouted.

Selendis grabbed the display as the first vessel violently smashed itself against the Mothership's shields. Its propulsions systems had little time to compensate, as more vessels collided with the _Shield of Aiur_ , breaking apart into thousands of chunks, venting atmosphere and leaking swiftly igniting fuel. As the seventh warship crashed, the powerful plasma shielding broke. Selendis and the rest of the bridge's crew were thrown about, as two more ships crashed directly against the hull, lodging themselves into the superstructure.

The rest of the suicidal ships, thankfully, broke off their charge, settling around the damaged Mothership and finally opening fire on the Terran fleet. Selendis idly saw their plasma lances impact the green particle shields the Battlecruisers were protected by as she rose. " _Damage report._ " -she bitterly requested.

" _Four of our Purifier batteries have been disabled. Life support has been destroyed, as well as the primary shield generator._ "

" _The Core?_ " -she asked.

The Zealot nodded. " _Intact, Executor._ "

 _Thank the gods_ , she thought. Selendis broadcast her thoughts throughout the ship. " _Warriors, retreat towards the Mothership's Core!_ " -she ordered. She then brought up the targeting array, damaged but functional, and began to input coordinates - straight in the middle of the main enemy fleet.

" _Executor, I must advise you: this course of action may imperil our forces and allies on Halo if the Mothership falls_." -an Ensign pleadingly stated.

"They _are exactly why I'm doing this. The_ Shield of Aiur _will hold until reinforcements arrive. We will make sure of it_." -Selendis promised.

Before she could activate the Mothership's ultimate weapon, however, several _hundred_ warp vectors appeared between them and the Covenant.

" _Reinforcements?_ " -she wondered, confused. " _The Purifiers are ahead of schedule_."

The first warship warped in, scarlet and obsidian. Selendis already knew to expect it, but the dark, Void-tainted thoughts still grated against her own.

" _Oh, how the mighty Templar fall. The_ Shield of Aiur _, utterly shattered! Truly, it is a sight I will not soon forget._ "

Had she any teeth, she would've ground them. " _Alarak. What are_ you _doing here?_ "

The Highlord's tone was almost _overwhelmingly_ smug. " _The Death Fleet stands ready to aid our allies, of course._ " -he said, mocking innocence. " _The Void showed me your petty troubles, Executor. Your_ disastrous _stratagems. I have come to_ end _them._ "

" _And here I thought you found heroics disgusting,_ Tal'darim _._ "

" _Would you rather I allow this farce to continue until the_ robots _arrive? Please._ " -he said, rolling his eyes. " _I can see your vessel's Core is intact. Retreat towards the ring._ I _will deal with these invaders._ "

Selendis narrowed her eyes. " _Do not presume to order me around, Alarak._ "

Alarak shrugged. " _By all means, then. Stay in your doomed flagship. I will_ try _not to eradicate you and your warriors as I cleanse it_."

He cut the communication then, making Selendis mentally growl in frustration. The ensign shouted, half-shocked, half-amused. " _The_ Blood of the Forged _is targeting us!_ "

" _Void-damned blight of a Protoss…all of you, leave your posts! This ship is lost._ "

* * *

Sara watched in awe as the _Shield of Aiur_ 's core disengaged from the Mothership's superstructure, swiftly escaping towards the relative safety of the ring below.

"Protoss tech is a hell of a thing." -she whispered.

"No doubt. The newly arrived Tal'darim fleet has started disabling every Covenant warship within range." -Kallo said. Their screens were indeed sobering, filled with Protoss warships utterly decimating the unprepared and out of position Covenant vessels. The Assault Carriers, in particular, had been quickly disabled, and were currently being boarded.

Dalara, the _Nerazim_ who'd tagged along with them since the scout mission, seemed troubled. " _The Forged Ones do not normally disable. They destroy, and they do so gleefully. Highlord Alarak must have something special in mind for the Covenant Storm._ "

"From what little Selendis told us about him, it _does_ seem strangely out of character." -Sara admitted. "Either way, we should be able to slip by unnoticed in this chaos, so I won't complain."

SAM opened a private channel. " _N'kon 'Vaiot wishes to speak with you in the cargo hold._ "

Sara nodded. "How long until we reach 'Mdama's flagship?"

"T-minus twelve, Sara." -Suvi replied. "Commander Raynor says Halo is primed for a simulated activation sequence."

"Great...I just hope it's flashy enough." -Ryder said, heading out of the bridge.

She checked her inherited N7 Eagle on the way to the cargo hold. Her father had always sworn by it, and she could indeed confirm its effectiveness, but using the elite weapon felt...disrespectful. She'd never trained to be an N7, never earned the red stripe on the powerful handgun. SAM and her many augments may have made her a veritable super-soldier, but it was all courtesy of the Pathfinder program.

At least she'd managed to talk Admiral Kandros out of her wearing Pathfinder armor with the N7 color scheme.

N'kon stood proudly, arms behind his back, examining the Nomad. His posture seemed stiff with pain, still, but the worst of his broken leg had been fixed - Medi-gel really _was_ universal - and a Protoss-made prosthetic had already replaced his severed hand. His armor had also been repaired and improved by _Daelaam_ phase-smiths.

"Fancy a ride when this is all over?" -she asked, holstering her pistol.

The towering Sangheili did not seem to acknowledge her, but he still answered, after a moment. "Perhaps, one day. I have only seen the galaxy through the eyes of a ruthless conqueror. A different perspective may indeed be what I need."

"Well, the Initiative is always hiring. Who knows? You could be our first Sangheili Pathfinder."

N'kon scoffed, but even that gesture felt... _dignified_ , coming from the proud alien. "It remains baffling to me, to so casually be addressed by a human, let alone work with one. Out of blind hatred, before; now, out of crushing shame."

Sara pursed her lips. "I can't claim to speak for the _other_ humans, but...from what you tell me, and what I've come to understand about the Terrans, it's kind of a universal trait that we Earthlings are quick to forgive."

" _Far_ too quick. A thousand ages of atonement would not be enough."

Sara hummed. "I don't think even the Protoss have that kind of time, N'kon." -she said. "What did you want to talk about?"

N'kon turned to face her. "I have been...observing, you and your crew. Merely out of caution, I assure you, but I must admit my curiosity has been piqued. The different aliens aboard this vessel, they are your allies?"

"Friends, more like. But sure, I guess you could call them allies."

The Sangheili cocked his head. "Is this the norm for your...Council?"

Sara shrugged. "Yes and no. I don't think you can ever completely stamp out xenophobia, but for the most part, it's stopped being a problem in Council space. We've survived too much death and destruction together to let something as petty as _discrimination_ keep us apart."

"You are an optimistic sort, Pathfinder." -he noted, wistful. "We will see if you remain so after we face Jul 'Mdama."

"Let's hope so...anything we should know about him?"

N'kon scoffed. "He is a fool and a zealot. A capable warrior, I suppose, but not one of extraordinary talents. I must say, I do not expect this display you have prepared to change his mind."

Sara pursed her lips. "Are you prepared to take him down, if he doesn't?"

The Sangheili hummed. "There is something you must understand about us, Pathfinder. I was born into the service of the Prophets, yes. A slave to the Covenant from the very beginning. And yet...'Mdama's takeover happened half of my life ago. He did not force us to stay. I...have followed him for too long to simply say yes." -he admitted, but drew the hilt secured at his thigh, igniting the oddly shaped energy sword that had so nearly been her end. "But, he is a threat to galactic peace. We, the Covenant, have been a force of destruction for far too long. I will do what I must."

Over the ship's intercom, Suvi caught their attention. " _T-minus two, away team. Mind the bumpy approach._ "

Sara smirked at N'kon, who put his blade away. "Ready for this?"

The alien nodded, resolute. Dalara, Drack, Cora, Liam, Vetra, and Peebee joined them at the airlock, which Sara punched open. Ahead of them appeared the massive form of a _CAS_ -class Covenant Assault Carrier - 'Mdama's flagship, _Song of Retribution_ , the largest starship she'd ever seen. Sara thought the colossal vessel beautiful, especially in the midst of the chaos, for the most part untouched by the Tal'darim fleet.

"Check your vacuum seals, people." -she ordered, leading by example. SAM quickly ran the diagnostics, settling into the back of her mind when the results came back green. Everyone but Dalara confirmed the order, the Protoss being naturally immune to the damage of hard vacuum.

" _Transmitting hangar override codes._ " -her AI whispered.

Their approach was indeed shaky, narrowly avoiding the sheer amounts of firepower traded between the Tal'darim and the Storm. When the warship's hull filled their entire view, a series of hexagonal plates retracted, revealing a massive hangar, easily large enough to fit the _Tempest_ inside.

"I can't believe this is 'Mdama's _personal_ shuttle bay. Can't imagine the main one." -Sara said, admiring the cavernous space, filled only with three large shuttles and half a dozen Sangheili, stood in a line, already expecting them.

 _Tempest_ hovered about twenty feet in the air. " _Good luck, away team._ " -Suvi said.

Sara jumped off, mitigating the fall with her biotics. Beside her, Drack landed with a heavy clang, and Cora daintily floated down. N'kon took the lead, greeting his kin as the _Tempest_ blasted away, turning invisible again. "My thanks for securing this landing zone, brothers and sisters. Is the path to the bridge clear?" -he asked.

The one who answered was female, from the tone of her voice. "I fear not, General. We were able to divert many of the patrols with false reports of boarding parties, but the protectors closest to the bridge have remained."

N'kon's expression softened. "I am not your General, warriors. I am a traitor to the cause."

"Then let us all stand together in betrayal. We have come to a single conclusion, the same as yours: the Covenant must end."

N'kon growled in approval. "Let us make our bloodlines proud!"

The Sangheili roared, and charged. _I guess they don't do stealth_ , Sara thought. The _Nerazim_ regarded her, amused. " _I will forge ahead and secure our escape route._ " -she said, and vanished in that strange, trademark smoke of hers.

Sara nodded, and looked at her teammates. "Let's secure that sensor room, people. This _telenovela_ ain't about to broadcast itself."

* * *

Jul 'Mdama wept. It was unbecoming of him, of the Covenant's sole and unchallenged Leader, but he could not help it. Few in the _Song of Retribution's_ bridge could. They all stared at their screens and holograms, unable to truly comprehend the situation.

The Storm had been tamed.

Crimson and black had rolled over them, targeting their every weapon, crippling their engines. ' _Surrender_ ', the voice in his head - _inside_ all of their minds - had threatened, ' _or die by the blades of the Forged_ '. His warriors had scoffed at the mere notion. He had arrogantly ordered them to fight.

Fought they had, and they had been soundly defeated. Not just a ship or two, no; one by one, he had lost contact with every single vessel in the fleet, it seemed, all in the span of _minutes_. A thousand warships lost, and then some. A few, perhaps two dozen, had escaped - broken ranks and panickedly entered Slipspace, away from the utter carnage wrought upon them by the mysterious enemy fleet. Many others had organized, bringing forth a sudden coup throughout the fleet, taking over their own warships from the more stubborn captains, surrendering to survive.

He did not begrudge them. Had he not been who he was, he may have done the exact same thing.

"Leader, the traitors have secured the main hangar bay. Our loyal defenders are being pushed back. Worse still, we have reports of alien boarders, throughout the entire vessel." -one of the ensigns reported, dismayed.

Jul blinked, unable to respond. A panicked Archon tried to take charge. "The bridge! Have the warriors protect the bridge."

"I do not answer to _you_ , Kett." -the ensign managed to spitefully hiss through his fear.

"...order a stand-down. All our forces." -'Mdama whispered.

The ensign balked. "Leader?"

"I refuse to sacrifice our remaining brothers and sisters."

The Archon scoffed. "Belay that order. Think on how close you are to the Great Journey, Sangheili!"

"And _how_ do you propose we achieve victory in this instance, Archon? Look at the fleet! Hear the cries of the dying on our own ship! We have failed." -Jul spat.

The Archon sneered. "We had a deal, Sangheili. _See it through_."

"Your choices have doomed your race, and mine have broken our Covenant. Whatever dealings we may have had are null and void. Flee and survive, if you wish, but do _not_ try what little of my patience is left."

The desperate Kett Overlord's armor lit up with his natural bio-electricity, but his threat might as well have been empty; Jul's Honor Guard and Mgalekgolo bodyguards immediately pointed their myriad weapons at him. The Archon glared one last time at Jul, and turned to leave the bridge.

Unfortunately for him, the blast doors started to glow crimson. " _What_?" -Jul balked. "They breach our bridge already?"

Despite his orders - and against his own sense of self-preservation - Jul ignited his energy sword, ready to fight for his life. His warriors forgot all about the now cowering Archon, and braced for the betrayers' explosive entrance. Soon enough, the reinforced blast doors cracked, and violently blew inwards, showering them all with molten slag and door fragments. Jul saw more than one of his guards perish on the spot from the force of the shrapnel. _In the end, it is our own kin that destroys us. Just as before_ , he thought grimly.

Only, once the smoke cleared, he realized it _wasn't_ a Sangheili that entered the room.

His brain flared with pain as the grating voice violated the privacy of his very thoughts. " _So_ this _is the might of the Covenant Storm. How..._ disappointing." -the voice, which could only belong to the absurdly tall, darkly armored figure, taunted.

Jul grabbed his head, tried to do something, _anything_ to stop the pain. "Who... _what_ are you?"

The figure ignored him, instead looking around at each and every one of his uncertain defenders. " _Not unexpected, of course. The Void has shown me nothing in you and your ilk that could hold my interest._ "

" _The Void_ has _chosen not to show me some things from time to time. Perhaps you may yet surprise me._ " -he mused. Glowing crimson eyes met his own blue orbs. " _Alarak, Highlord of the Tal'darim._ "

"What?" -Jul whispered, his grip on the energy sword faltering under that penetrating gaze.

" _You asked who I was. You asked_ what _I was. I am Firstborn, Jul 'Mdama. Protoss. Child of_ actual _gods, unlike the paltry failures you hail as divinity._ "

Jul hissed. "You _dare_ mock the Forerunners?"

Alarak scoffed, the mental sound grating between his ears. " _I do what I_ please _, Sangheili. I have more than_ earned _the freedom to choose. Success affords such leisures...something_ you _wouldn't understand, of course._ "

The Leader of the Covenant growled. "Not another word, _Firstborn_."

" _Do you see me tremble_?" -Alarak asked.

Jul let loose a savage roar, and leapt towards the Highlord. The Protoss rolled his eyes - a strangely _human_ gesture - and flicked his hand aside. As if he'd been tackled in mid-air by a Jiralhanae Chieftain, Jul was thrown aside, crashing with two of his guards.

" _There is courage within you, to be certain_." -Alarak casually said, as an energy blade manifested from his wrist. Two honor guards lunged for a coordinated attack, but the crimson lance easily - and frighteningly swiftly - bisected them. " _Yet...courage is such a common trait. So unfortunately necessary for life to survive_. _Tell me, 'Mdama...what makes you special?_ "

The Mgalekgolo pair rumbled, shooting their fuel rod cannons at the threat. Alarak stood his ground, red particle shield unharmed, even when bathed in nuclear fire. " _Initiative, perhaps? No, of course not. You've idled for decades, content with merely_ surviving _._ "

The pressure in the room suddenly intensified to unbearable levels. Jul could only stare in horror as the eel colonies shook themselves apart, armor pieces unable to hold together without the cohesion of the Lekgolo within them. Alarak laughed in delight. " _Ah, I've missed this_." -he admitted, dreamily. " _Peace can be so very_ boring _. Wouldn't you agree, Kett?_ "

Jul turned towards the console he knew the Archon had tried to hide behind. The Kett rose, his fear etched into his features. "...my Lord?" -he said, tentatively bowing.

Alarak's eyes narrowed in disgust. " _Your_ Lord _? Have I conquered your race without realizing? Ugh, you are_ pathetic _._ "

The Highlord extended his arm towards the Archon, his armored hand open. The Kett raced towards it, unable to resist the invisible force exerted by the Protoss. " _I have no quarrel with you or the rest of your incompetent species, Archon_." -Alarak said, once the helpless alien was in his grasp. " _But I_ do _have plans. And, much to my chagrin, the Kett figure into them._ "

The hand tightened. "You _, however,_ do not."

Jul looked away, but still he was showered in green blood and bits of gore. Again he looked only to see the massive Protoss standing above him, seemingly the only other living being in the bridge.

" _Now, O Leader...we talk._ "

* * *

 **I got pretty horribly writer's-blocked. Fortunately, Alarak was there for me.**

 **Whispers of Darkness is nearing its end, ladies and gentlemen. It's meant to be a three-part story, but I've already started on one of my spin-off ideas, called Of Dragon Queens and Deathclaw Tamers. Whispers has the sci-fi aspect covered, so I thought...why the heck not include magic in the Milky Way? It takes place a couple of years before this, and doesn't really connect until much later on, so if you just like futuristic Skyrim combined with the plot of Fallout 4, and don't want to relate it to this universe, you can choose to do that, too.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Big ol' wrench thrown in the works. Until next time!**


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